What Does Basic Health Insurance Cost?
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Factors Affecting Cost
When it comes to purchasing personal health insurance, the first thing you need to know is that there is no single, magical number I can quote you off the top of my head. The truth is, there are lots of different factors that make up the cost of health insurance. Many of these factors differ for each person.
Let’s begin with the basics. All healthcare quotes begin with the answers to three basic questions: what is your age, where do you live, and do you use tobacco? Since with increased age comes an increase in health problems, the older you are, the higher your health insurance premiums will be. The cost of health insurance also varies from state to state, mainly due to competition, cost to do business, and environmental factors that cause certain regions to share similar health conditions. And if you smoke, you’re going to see higher premiums (because smoking causes health abnormalities).
Decisions that Affect Cost
Since it is unlikely that you can do anything to change the responses above, except perhaps quit smoking, you are sort of stuck with what numbers those answers derive. When it comes to figuring out basic health insurance costs, it’s best we focus on things you do have some control over. You have a lot of decisions to make.
First, there are metal tiers to choose from—bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. These tiers represent how you and your insurance company are going to share costs. The higher the actuarial value, the more the plan premium will cost.
You also have to decide what type of plan you will buy. There are HMOs, PPOS, EPOs, and POSs to choose from. Making a choice will boil down to your comfort level with different provider networks and how you want to balance costs. Are you willing to pay more up front, with your insurance kicking in sooner should medical problems arise? Or are you looking to save money on health insurance premiums with the tradeoff being a higher deductible?
Average Cost
So getting back to answering your question: “what does basic health insurance cost?” Here are the best estimates I can provide without a custom insurance quote. A person looking to purchase individual health insurance will pay an average of about $250 a month. You can also review data by state through the Kaiser Family Foundation. Most statistics are based on a person who is 21 years of age. 30 year olds are likely to pay 1.135 times more, 40 year olds pay 1.3 times more, and 50 year olds pay 1.786 times more.1
Get an Accurate Price
The easiest way to figure out how much basic health insurance will cost for you is simply to request a quote from an agent. BudgetInsurance.co provides them for free.