How to Enroll: Real Reasons You Can’t Afford Not to Have Health Insurance

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Having the right amount of health care coverage is important for you and your family: if you or a loved one falls ill or is in a serious accident, you will need all of the coverage you can get. Some people may think that finding affordable health care is difficult, but the good news is that with a little research, you can find what you need to keep your family protected.

In fact, skipping out on health care coverage can actually cost you a lot more than the price a monthly payment would. Health care bills can pile up quickly without the proper coverage, so you should do whatever you can to find a plan that’s right for you and your family. Here are some reasons why you can — and should — get health care coverage as soon as possible.

The Real Cost of Going Uninsured

When you shop around for health care coverage rates, you may experience some sticker shock, but it’s very important that you find a plan that’s right for you because the cost of remaining uninsured can be a lot more than any monthly payment.

For starters, you are required to have health insurance in the United States by law, and if you fail to find coverage, you will have to pay a fee at tax time. This can be anywhere from a few hundred dollars to over a thousand. You can do the mental math and see that whatever your fine is, it may be lower than your overall payments for health insurance.

But the fine isn’t the only penalty. Health website WebMd says that you have a one in five chance of needing emergency care between the ages of 25 and 44. If you are not covered, those bills can add up to tens of thousands of dollars, depending on the severity of the illness or injury. Before you know it, you could be in serious financial straits.

You May Be Able to Get Help with Payments

Nearly four in five of all people qualify for some type of financial assistance with their health care coverage, which means you may not have to carry the financial burden of insurance all by yourself.

For starters, there are tax credits than many people qualify for, sometimes contributing as much as $250 per month. Even if you don’t qualify for the full tax credits, you may be able to get a little help so you don’t have to pay as much per month. You can contacts specialists like Jim Tsokanos to see how much credit you may qualify for.

There are also federal programs that help to lower your payments. Medicare is available for many people over 65 years old and there are programs like CHIPs that help if you have young children. Either of these may be viable options for you and your family.

Look for Higher Deductibles to Lower Payments

If you are in relatively good health or otherwise don’t anticipate that you will use your health care coverage often, you may want to look at plans with higher deductibles. This means that you will have to pay more out of pocket before the insurance kicks in, but the higher the deductible, the lower the monthly payments go.

Many people refer to this strategy as “catastrophic insurance,” where you only plan on using your coverage during extreme emergencies. If you or a you family members do not have any consistent health problems, or if you are single and healthy, you can save hundreds of dollars per month by going this route. Evaluate your health and see if higher deductibles are right for you.

Short-term Plans

A final strategy could be to get short-term coverage to save money. This isn’t necessarily recommended, because short-term plans are not held responsible for the same rules under the Affordable Care Act as other plans, but it can cost you as little as 50 dollars per month if you find the right plan.

These plans are different because they don’t have to honor pre-existing conditions and they have a lifetime cap on the amount of money the company will pay out, so make sure you know what you are getting before signing up for a short-term plan. If you are healthy and don’t think you’ll need a lot of coverage, this can be the way to go to save money.

Don’t go another day without healthcare coverage. Find a plan that’s right today.

The founder and CEO of Nu Nexus Partners in New York City, Jim Tsokanos received his bachelors degree in communications from Iona College in New Rochelle, New York. Mr. Tsokanos also served for nearly four years as president of Coordinated Health, one of the nation’s leading surgical specialty hospital networks. In this capacity, he oversaw more than 100 physicians and 1,200 team members across 17 locations in eastern Pennsylvania and western New Jersey.