Top Tips for Shopping for Health Insurance Online
Searching online for the best deals in health insurance is a great way to save money. The following tips will help ease the job of getting the best deal.
FIRST, DO YOUR RESEARCH In New Zealand, private healthcare includes specialist services, primary care and private hospitals which provide non-urgent and elective treatments that complement the public health service’s focus on urgent and essential treatments.
Before you start to compare health insurance deals and make your final decision, you need to understand what is on offer. Private health insurance deals come with a variety of different options and if you’ve never purchased health insurance before, it might be difficult to navigate your way through the insurance jargon. It is a good idea to check out a few consumer websites. Life Direct (www. lifedirect.co.nz) has information about health insurance, and lets you compare policies from a range of providers. In Australia, check out www.choice.com.au and www. privatehealthaustralia.org.au to understand the basics of health insurance. If you have a pre-existing condition, you should check how it
might affect health insurance policies. Health insurance is generally still available when you have pre-existing conditions, but you’ll need to disclose this fully upfront so you can be covered correctly.
Keeping your personal situation in mind will help you in finding the right type of cover and prevent you from paying more than you need.
USE COMPARISON SITES Once you know what you need, you can find health insurance quotes on price comparison sites. Start by searching: ‘health insurance comparison sites’. When you are shopping online, it is important to keep in mind that not every insurer provides their services on all comparison websites. Therefore, in order to find the best deal, you should look at a number of different websites, as well as visit insurance websites that aren’t part of comparison websites.
READ THE FULL POLICY Before you purchase health insurance, set aside the time to read the full terms and conditions of the policy. This will help you understand things such as what are you covered for, how to cancel or change your policy and whether your premiums might increase if your situation changes. This is the best way to guarantee there are no hidden fees involved. If you have any questions regarding a policy, always check with the insurance provider. If they are unwilling to answer your questions, you should move on!
REMEMBER TO HAGGLE Haggling may not be the most enjoyable thing to do, but it could end up saving you money. Get on the phone, tell insurers what you’re looking for and what you’ve already been offered. Remember, insurers know the markets better than anyone, so don’t be tempted to make up numbers in the hope of getting a better deal. Be honest with what you’ve been offered, and if you already have health insurance, see if you can get your premiums down by showing cheaper health insurance quotes and offers to your current provider.