Simply put the ever-growing premiums on health insurance plans are making them almost unattainable for the average person. Even in case if the company you work for play a helping hand in assisting you with the costs of the health insurance premiums every month, you still might not be able to afford it. It is pretty abysmal for people that work for pretty big companies to pay their premium every month, but for individuals that work for themselves, health insurance is even more costly affair.

Just to put this into light, the average person that works for a large company will pay from $150 to $250 a month for health insurance. This amount is generally only about half, or in other word less of what the entire premium would cost without the help of the company. What\'s more an individual on their own has to pay anywhere from $300 to $500 a month, just for coverage on themselves. That is where an individual needs to be very frugal when deciding on the health insurance plan that is right for them. Each health insurance plan offers different set of options for coverage, because of this you will need to pick and choose the options that fit you the best.

Lots of health insurance plans require you to pay a deductible before the insurance company will cover any medical bills. All in all the higher the deductible you have to pay the lower the premiums you will pay every month. Remember that if you do not require using your health insurance very often, then this is the plan for you. Most importantly insurance plans also usually allow you to pay a co-payment for a doctor?s visit. The co-payment on the other hand will usually range from $10 to $50. Point to be noted in this regard is that the higher the co-payment the lower your monthly premium will be. Another crucial factor that will affect your monthly premium is the percentage of coverage for certain procedures your plan will cover. It is worthwhile pointing that some of the plans offer full coverage to no coverage of certain surgical procedures, or hospital stays. In that case the lower the coverage, the lower your monthly premium will be.

There is no doubt that all of these choices will help to tailor your plan to fit your needs. Most crucially they will also help you to make your plan more affordable. You will have to weigh your options with utmost ease to maximize the amount of options you get for the premium that you will have to pay.

In these days of increasing medical costs it is only natural that you should shop around to find the best deal when it comes to an individual health insurance plan and, for most people, that means looking for a good insurance company offering cover at an affordable premium. Unfortunately, it is not that simple.

Before you begin to worry about how much you are going to have to pay for health insurance you must first determine the type of health insurance that you need, as there are several different types of individual health insurance plan available today.

There are essentially three main components of health insurance.

The first and foremost is tradition indemnity (fee-for-service) insurance. This is a type of insurance that lots of people will be familiar with and which, a few years ago, was the dominant form of health insurance. At present, however, it is generally considered to be an expensive option.

Whereas it is worthwhile remembering that the indemnity health insurance is not designed to cover day-to-day medical care but instead provides cover for unexpected illnesses and, more often than not, allows the policyholder considerable freedom when it comes to choosing where to go and who to see for treatment. Fact of the matter is the policyholder is also responsible for much of the administration of an indemnity policy and is required pay his own medical bills in the first instant and then to complete the necessary claims forms to gain reimbursement.

Because of the simple fact that indemnity insurance is designed to meet unexpected medical expenditure policies will seldom cover routine medical bills.

The second component of health insurance is referred to as managed care and the best known example of this is the original Health Maintenance Organization, or HMO.

The logic behind HMOs is to reduce overall medical costs by focusing attention on keeping the policyholder in good health and catching potential problems at an early stage when they can be treated easily and relatively cheaply. Accordingly, HMOs primarily emphasizes on providing cover for routine medical care and for such things as screening and check-ups.

There are two other pivotal differences between indemnity insurance and managed care. The first and foremost is that managed care operates within a managed care organization and the insurance company handles all of the paperwork and the payment of bills. The second is that, because treatment must be carried out within the managed care group, the policyholder has far less options over where and from whom he gets treatment.

HMOs were not normally well received when they were first come into the fray and came in for a great deal of criticism, much of which was justified. HMOs have done much in last few years or so to meet this criticism and have been largely successful in doing so.

However, this routine has also given rise to the third form of health insurance today, and one that is gaining rapidly in popularity, Preferred Provider Organizations, or PPO?s

PPO? s are more or less a mix between indemnity and managed care with care being provided normally under the umbrella of a managed care organization but with policyholders having the freedom to seek treatment outside of the organization in certain circumstances.

Which component of insurance will best suit your needs if course dependent very much on your personal circumstances. In case if you are young, fit and healthy and visit the doctor once in a blue moon then you may feel that indemnity insurance would best suit your needs. On the other side of the coin if you are married with four young children and have a history of health problems within the family then the focus on preventative medicine provided by managed care may be more attractive to you.