Health insurance - how to reduce the costs

The following are some tips on how to reduce your health insurance costs.
1. First of all, the main thing to remember is this - health insurance may be pricey, but it's not nearly as pricey as going through life without it. Think about it. Going to the doctor for something as simple and common as the flu is expensive enough, once the visit, tests, and medications are paid for. Even a simple, basic visit like this can cost you hundreds of dollars. Now imagine that you've been in a car accident; you're laid up in the hospital, you're paying for major surgery. This sort of thing, taken on without life insurance, can wipe away your savings in an instant and even push you into bankruptcy. When it comes to finances, there's really no excuse good enough not to have health insurance.
2. It's important to shop around. It might be tedious, it might take time, but looking at lots of different companies and really, really researching them is going to save you money in the long run. You wouldn't go to a car lot and purchase the first car you saw. Health insurance companies may look the same, sound the same, offer similar health insurance packages, but there are important difference and it takes patience and concentration to discover them.
3. Take advantage of independent health insurance experts. These are people without loyalty to one insurance company over another. They devote their time and expertise to rating the insurance companies and posting their findings online. Read what they have to say, pay attention to them. There are lots of different factors involved, some of them very subtle, when it comes to reducing the cost of health insurance.

4. Getting healthy can reduce the cost of health insurance. Health insurance companies, especially if you're applying for single coverage, will usually ask you to have a physical checkup with one of their doctors. They want to discover the sort of shape you're in before they agree to cover your health. Therefore, proper diet and exercise can reduce the cost of your health insurance, given the fact that insurance companies are going to give better rates to a person with low cholesterol levels (for example) than high ones.
5. A low monthly cost isn't necessarily going to reduce costs for you over the long run. When you're signing up for a health insurance plan, go with the benefits and coverages that you think you're going to use often. If you have a recurring health problem and your health insurance company doesn't cover it, your costs are going to be increased and not reduced even if you're premium isn't that high.
6. Remember that having a lot of choice will usually cost you a little more. If reducing health insurance costs is what's most important to you, go with a plan that basically chooses your doctors and hospitals for you. Other plans that give you more freedom will cost you more.
7. Check to see if your company or your school offers health insurance plans. Often, companies and schools offer affordable health insurance plans for their employees and students. Going with their plans is a great way to reduce the cost of health insurance. You've got a lot of security, and you're sharing the costs (in a sense) with a lot of other people.
8. There are ways to get tax-breaks with health insurance coverage, but only in very specific circumstances, including the self-employed. Find out ways that you can make your health insurance coverage work for you. Reducing the costs of health insurance without avoiding its benefits altogether will bring you peace of mind, a healthier body, and a healthier bank account, too.