What an experience I had buying individual health insurance in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

In school, they shouid have a class just on insurance. What a PPO means, the differences between all of the plans to choose from, and why we need to insure everything we seem to own. I am a 32 year old guy waiting tables at a major fort lauderdale restaurant, and never really thought about the need for Health insurance, until the time came.

After an accident where I was out with friends drinking, and stepped off of a curb at the wrong time, I found myself in the emergency room with a HUGE bill and no insurance. Also, you can't get insurance if you have an injury. Something not told to us in school again.

Three months went by, and my buddy Walter, who sells insurance on the side, was able to hook me up with a plan from Vista Healthplan, a south florida HMO. I'ts great it includes emergency room for $100 and I can see a doctor for $10, including everything the doctor does in the office.

Walter works at www.flhealthstore.com and he offered me a few before I settled on this one. He offered me a list of all the plans in the area, along with a summary. I am going to publish this summary and will put my comments where I think each plan helps the most. Good luck. If you have any questions his number is 954-942-1971, or go to his site www.flhealthstore.com

Good luck, and don't get stuck with the HUGE bill I did.

Alex Perez

For those who don’t know, health insurance is simply the coverage of medical claims of an individual, against the medical costs. Like many others you may not be able to afford an expensive insurance policy - but you can eliminate all the frills you don’t need and get the low cost health insurance you want and still be adequately covered. Health insurance, as with any kind of insurance today, whether individual, personal, business or family health insurance, is always a gamble. You’re gambling that you’ll take out more than you are paying in and your health insurance company is gambling they will pay out less. (HMO'S take a lot of the risk away because they have a fee for each service completed)

You want to know what to look for in any type of good insurance. If you have always had a health insurance benefit where you’ve worked and especially if you were a state or federal employee and now find you have to buy your own, you may not be able to afford the level of coverage you used to have. Finding good low cost health insurance today is easier than most people think. (PPO'S can be cheaper because of the deducible)

To start, shopping for free health insurance quotes online (like at www.flhealthstore.com) is the easiest and best way to find low cost health insurance coverage. If you have any permanent health problems, such as diabetes, or have had cancer at any time in your family history, your monthly cost could easily be more than your house and car payment combined, but there are many different good insurance plans available today in the US.

The cold hard facts are the older you get the more important your health insurance policy becomes; this isn’t to say that you should not be concerned about your insurance when you’re younger. In case your doctor decides that something is an absolute medical necessity and it’s not covered under your current policy, the insurance company may exercise its discretion in paying for it, but don’t hold your breath. Many report they were eventually covered yet many more people get turned down. (like me, you can be turned down for any reason)

One of the best ways to find low cost insurance is to get free health insurance quotes online. You can generally get very fast quotes and you want to compare several companies, as they will all have different criteria. This will be the fastest way to find low cost insurance. (at www.flhealthstore.com walter will not even answer the phone unless you ask him to)

Most importantly, you want a health insurance provider or company that has a good track record for paying without fighting you on every little detail. Your local agents may only be able to offer what they have currently available and not be able to offer you what’s best for both your pocketbook and your health. (Golden Rule and Aetna have very good reputations)

The death rate in any given year for someone without insurance is twenty-five per cent higher than for someone with insurance so you want to make sure you get the best coverage you can get at the lowest cost as soon as possible. Heart-attack victims who don’t have insurance are less likely to be able to get angioplasty, which is often the treatment of choice. People who have pneumonia who don’t have insurance are less likely to receive initial or follow-up x-rays or necessary consultations. (or falling off of sidewalks)

In general because people who are uninsured are sicker than the rest of us because they can’t afford proper medical care, they can’t get better jobs, and because they can’t get better jobs they can’t afford insurance, and because they can’t afford insurance they get even sicker.

Although it does increase your risk, one way to lower your insurance costs is to set a higher deductible; if you’re in good health you’ll like come out ahead, barring an unforeseen event such as an accident, etc. Keeping yourself in better health will help you with less health insurance claims. All the insurance companies have to be very competitive because it’s so quick and easy to compare them with the other competing companies online. (really walter's site www.flhealthstore.com is a good one)

Children without any insurance are less likely to receive proper medical attention for serious injuries, for recurrent ear infections, or for asthma for example and you want to avoid having to face a $100,000 open heart surgery without having any insurance. (I think children can get their own policies)

So taking out insurance with higher deductibles and spending a little time online comparing at least five or more companies will make it more likely that you’ll find the best low cost insurance. There are many different health plans so make sure you get an understanding of all the low cost health insurance policies that are available from each company. Cheap or low cost insurance does mean a lower price and in some cases lower quality, but the price may be more important to some than the quality of the health plan. You don’t want to pay for more than you need but you want to consider any possible future health events you might encounter too.

With the rise of medical insurance costs today, most people look for low cost health insurance premiums that will ensure quality medical attention at the time of need, but at a price they can simply afford. Make sure to keep in mind that with low cost insurance options, you’ll need to compromise somewhat on the variety of services covered. Proceed surely but carefully.

(it's worth the time really check into it if you want to protect you credit, health and employment)