By: BANKMODE.com Staff

If you’ve been shopping around for health insurance, good for you. Many people will simply apply to one insurance company and pay whatever that company quotes them, but not you. You are wise and want to get more than one quote before you make this important decision. But how do you know if you’re making the right decision or not? How do you know if the quote you’ve been given is reasonable or high or very affordable compared with other quotes? Well, here are a few steps to help you make this call:

1. Get quotes from several companies.
   For most major decisions, you should get quotes from several companies, and health insurance is no different. Getting quotes is simple. Just go online, look up three or four companies you’re interested in, and fill out an online form for a quote on the particular plan in which you’re interested. The company will typically either call you within a couple of business days or will send you a letter in the mail stating their quote for you.
2. Read through the quotes and plans very carefully.
   Health insurance is tricky, and it comes laden with lots of esoteric words like deductible and copay and coinsurance. Before you decide which company you’ll go with, be sure you understand everything about the plan for which you were quoted. If you don’t understand the piece of paper, give someone at the company a call, and have them explain it to you. If you get connected to a customer service line that has terrible customer service, that may be your first clue that you want to go with a different provider, anyway.
3. Run a like-for-like comparison of the plans.
   Once you know what all the plans would cover, compare them. They probably won’t be exactly the same, so if one has a $2,000 deductible and another has a $3,000 deductible, take this into account when looking at the health insurance quote for the monthly premium. If you need to, make a pros and cons chart for every plan so that you can make an informed decision.
   
   Be sure that you aren’t making this important decision based solely on your monthly premium. While this is an important factor, it’s not the only thing to consider, as paying very little for an insurance plan when you can’t afford the deductible every year is really not worthwhile.
4. Make your decision.
   Don’t sign any paperwork until you’ve been through these steps and have made a very informed decision about your health care coverage. These ideas will allow you to get the best possible health care coverage for the lowest possible monthly premium.