How to Find a Reliable Tennessee Health Insurance Quote
Whether you’re among the 15 percent of state residents currently without health insurance or simply looking for a better premium rate or health coverage, it’s never been easier to find a health insurance quote in Tennessee. Whether you need a comprehensive health plan or catastrophic coverage with a tax-exempt health savings account, some form of Tennessee health insurance is necessary to guarantee quality medical care and to protect you and your loved ones from financial calamity. Here’s what you need to know –the good, the bad, and the ugly –about health insurance in Tennessee as you begin to shop for health coverage that best fits your health care needs.
Tennessee Health Insurance and the Unemployed
With an unemployment rate at 10.6 percent (March, 2010), thousands of Tennessee residents and families are struggling to find affordable health insurance. Continuing your comprehensive health plan with COBRA coverage can be preemptively expensive and is only a short-term fix in the best of circumstances. Worse, if your employer went out of business or no longer carries a group health plan, you may not be eligible for COBRA coverage. If you don’t qualify for Medicaid but can’t afford comprehensive health insurance, at the very least you should seek catastrophic health coverage, especially if you’re not in the best of health. Tennessee perennially ranks in the bottom ten states for health status –according to America’s Health Rankings –with particularly poor rankings for smoking, obesity, and violent crime.
Tennessee Health Insurance on the Individual Market
Even if you have a job, it may not provide health benefits. Sixty-nine percent of businesses in Tennessee are small businesses, and only 39 percent of them offer health coverage. Unfortunately, whether you’re unemployed or otherwise or uninsured, there are few guarantees on the individual market for health insurance in Tennessee. Although national health care reform is making preexisting conditions a thing of the past, Tennessee does not guarantee insurance on the individual market nor does the state have market rate restrictions.
Nevertheless, it’s worth pointing out that more Tennesseans (5.1 percent) get their health insurance on the individual market than the national average (4.7 percent), according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. In fact, Tennessee has the highest HMO penetration rate of any southern state, allowing many residents to enjoy relatively high flexibility and quality of care from managed care health plans. Thus, with the new protections afforded by health care reform and what it means for Tennessee health insurance, many residents may be able to find more affordable and higher quality health plans than they have in many years.
Find a Reliable Tennessee Health Insurance Quote
Undoubtedly, the best way to find a Tennessee health insurance quote is with an online referral service, like NetQuote. It’s hard for older residents to believe but finding health insurance online sidesteps one of the most common forms of health insurance scams –door-to-door salesman. Says Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance Commissioner, Leslie A. Newman, “Tennesseans should beware of door-to-door health insurance sales or requests for immediate purchase of ‘limited enrollment’ federal health policies.” By contrast, if you submit an online request with NetQuote, we’ll connect you only with licensed state health insurers.
By finding health insurers online, you reduce overhead and marketing costs leading to cheaper health insurance premiums. These health insurance companies will automatically know they’re competing with other state insurers, while shopping online for a Tennessee health insurance quote lowers overhead for insurers, creating discounted premiums. Plus, it takes but a few minutes to submit an online request, so you’ll have more time to look at quotes and health plans from the comfort of your own home. There’s simply no better way to look for health insurance quotes.
