Affordable Georgia Health Insurance Quotes
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The best way to find affordable Georgia health insurance quotes is to compare plans and coverage options from multiple health insurance companies. At Health Insurance Online you can complete an easy form and we will provide you with free, no obligation Georgia health insurance quotes. It is now convenient to shop for individual and family health insurance plans and find cheap health insurance that fits your needs. Georgia health insurance plans include Health Maintenance Organization Plans (HMO Plans), Preferred Provider Organization Plans (PPO Plans), Health Savings Accounts (HSA) and many others. If you are not yet ready to buy, feel free to utilize the many resources on our site to educate yourself about Georgia health insurance.

What is Health Insurance?

Georgia residents face a unique circumstance. In healthcare, they benefit from the state's forward thinking use of technology. By integrating technological advancements with healthcare Georgia has created "Telemedicine," a process of using telecommunications devices, medical cameras and computer equipment to diagnose and treat patients remotely. While this advance in health care is helpful, this technology is extremely expensive. To take advantage of the latest technological breakthroughs in healthcare while avoiding a breakthrough in your wallet, Georgia residents must consider the adoption of a health insurance policy.

Health insurance allows you to introduce some predictability to your healthcare expenses. By accepting a policy with a specific premium, you get the comfort and security of knowing that your insurance company is going to pay the largest portion of any medical bills you incur. By pooling your premium payment with the premium payments of other policy holders, the insurance company creates a reserve of funds to pull from to pay their portion of medical expenses. Since many policyholder's expenses will be less than they pay in premiums, the insurance company will generally have unused funds to carry over into the next year.

Section Terminology:

Premium: A premium is the amount of money a policy holder must pay in order to keep a policy from lapsing.

Reserve: Liquid assets set aside to meet financial obligations as they arise.

Why Georgia Residents Need Health Insurance

In 2006, Georgia's Public Health department released a study that showed the most common cause of death for Georgia residents under age 75 was motor vehicle accidents. While most accidents don't end in fatalities, we all know how easy it can be to be involved in a motor vehicle accident. The medical costs from an accident can wipe out much of your savings if you don't have health insurance.

Let's say you have an accident, but you are covered under the massive umbrella of a health insurance policy. The only out of pocket expense you've had so far is your $100 monthly premium and you've had the insurance for eight months. The $100 premium protects your policy against a lapse and ensures your coverage. At the end of the eighth month, you have a car accident while driving around Sandy Springs. You are taken to the hospital and are asked to pay a $50 copayment. They treat you, ex-ray you, perform an MRI, bandage your wounds and release you. Three weeks later, you receive a statement in the mail from the hospital. It shows your $50 copayment against a total bill of $3,500. It also shows your insurance company paying the $3,450 remaining, and your bill paid in full. Considering your $800 in premium payments and your $50 copayment, your total out of pocket expenses are $850 whereas the insurance company has paid $3,450. This mitigates your exposure to unexpected medical expenses and puts a limit on your expenses and affords you the best in Georgia's state of the art telemedicine care. You may not be able to predict when an accident or illness will happen, but with health insurance, you know what your financial exposure will be.

Section Terminology:

Lapse: A lapse is a policy termination as a result of nonpayment of premium.

Co-pay: A copayment is a fixed amount that policyholders are obligated to pay for medical treatment or medications. The copayment is generally due at the time of treatment and represents a small fraction of the entire bill.

Your Options for Georgia Health Insurance Coverage

Georgia residents have a lot of choices when it comes to health insurance. The first consideration when determining the right policy for you and your family, is to decide if you want a policy that allows for regular check ups with your doctor or not. If you aren't concerned with preventative care and routine visits to your doctor, but do want to protect yourself against catastrophic accidents, you may wish to consider a major medical policy. Major medical policies cover only those expenses accrued in relation to a catastrophic illness or accident. These would include major surgeries and hospital care. Major medical policies can be very affordable for Georgia residents because the premiums are low since the likelihood of actually utilizing the policy is low.

If you work for a company that offers group coverage, you may wish to take advantage of this affordable insurance plan. With group coverage, your employer may pay part of your premium and your policy won't be priced based on your individual health. Group health insurance policies are underwritten by evaluating the experience of similarly sized groups in similar locations. The price of the policy is also based on group experience. If you have preexisting conditions, this can make a huge difference because the insurance company is not rating your individual risk, but the risk of your group. COBRA coverage is offered to group insurance members who leave the group, in order to help prevent a gap in coverage.

If you don't have access to group coverage, and want a health insurance policy that provides coverage for routine and preventative care, the individual coverage is the next option. Individual insurance offers a veritable buffet of options to make it affordable. It is individually underwritten so the healthier you are the cheaper your policy will be. Individual insurance can offer high or low deductibles and varying copayment options to help move the premium price point.

Georgia has some specialized plans for low income families under their Georgia Healthy Families program. By partnering up with private care management organizations, the Georgia Department of Community Health is able to offer PeachCare, a healthcare program for children age 18 and younger who do not qualify for Medicaid or other insurance.

Section Terminology:

Underwriting: The process of evaluating a proposed insured's health and overall risk to the plan to decide if they should be approved for coverage and if they should be charged an additional premium to hedge against increased risk.

Preexisting Conditions: An illness or chronic injury that was diagnosed in a policy holder before he or she took out their policy. Some insurance companies will exclude a preexisting condition from coverage benefits for a specified time period.

COBRA: The program that allows for the continuation of health insurance coverage after employment is terminated with a provider of group health insurance. COBRA guarantees the continuation of existing coverage for up to 18 months or until you sign up for coverage under a new plan. Policyholders who elect to take COBRA coverage should expect to pay a higher premium under COBRA than they did with the group plan.

Deductible: A deductible is a base amount that a policy holder must pay for medical treatment before their policy begins to pay for treatment. Not all policies have deductibles. If your policy has a deductible, you will pay all medical expenses out of pocket until your deductible has been satisfied and then you will pay only copayments.

Georgia PPO versus HMO

You've probably heard about PPO's and HMO's, but how do these two different physician's networks affect your health insurance policy?

HMO's are called Health Maintenance Organizations. Health Maintenance Organizations are insurance plans that have a set group (or network) of physicians for policyholders to visit. Under an HMO, only visits to this network of physicians are covered. Any visits to physicians outside the network will be purely out of pocket.

PPO's are Preferred Provider Organizations. In a PPO, the insurance company has a preferred group of physicians they would like you to see, but you are not required to restrict your visits only to physicians in that group. With a PPO policy, your insurance company will pay some benefit to you, even if you go outside their network. You can expect your out of pocket expenses to increases should you decide to work outside the network.

Choosing the Right Health Insurance Coverage for Georgia Residents

Once you have a good understanding of all the policy options available to you, it's time to determine what policy options and factors are important to you. This will not only help narrow your choices down, it will also help you to create an affordable plan that covers your unique needs. Use the following checklist to help in your decision:

Age: If you are over age 65, you may qualify for Medicare coverage. When you qualify for Medicare coverage, the only other policy you need is a Medigap policy. Medicare coverage is limited, so Medigap policies can pay for some of the expenses that Medicare doesn't. Expenses like: acupuncture, travel for medical treatment and certain types of therapy. It can also pay deductibles for you.

Health History: Whether or not you have preexisting conditions and how severe they are if you do are extremely important factors in choosing your health insurance. Georgia does not have a state subsidized risk pool for uninsurable residents, so you may need to get insured through an employee group, union or fraternal organization if your preexisting conditions prevent you from qualifying for individual coverage.

Dependents: When covering dependents, it's important to look into the cost of group coverage including your dependents as well as individual policies for them. It is sometimes less expensive to give them individual policies than to cover them under your group plan. Low income families with no options for group coverage may wish to consider Georgia's PeachCare program.

Deductibles: Georgia residents whop make frequent trips to the doctor may not wish to buy an insurance policy with a deductible. The cost savings in a policy with a deductible will be very appealing to those who see their doctor infrequently. When you don't have routine preventative care visits, you can opt for a policy with a deductible. You can combine this policy with an HSA so that the possibility of increased out of pocket costs in the event of an illness is offset by the tax savings of the HSA contributions.

Premium Frequency: In order to ensure the continuation of your health insurance policy, you must make your premium payments on time. Premium payments can be paid monthly, quarterly, semi-annually or annually. It is advisable to pay as much in advance as you can. You can also check with your health insurance company to find out if electronic payments are a possibility.

Section Terminology:

Health Savings Account (HSA): Health Savings accounts are savings accounts that hold funds to pay for out of pocket medical expenses including co-pays and deductibles. The money deposited into an HSA is tax deductible and can only be used for authorized expenses. There are many uses that may be sanctioned by your HSA provider including: acupuncture, massage therapy, and travel expenses related to an illness. Check with the company providing the HSA to find out what the allowable expenses are.

Major Health Insurance Providers in Georgia

Georgia residents have no shortage of options when searching for companies that provide specialized plans for Georgians. Many nationally recognized companies have developed websites and plan options specific to the needs of Georgia residents. These companies include:

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia (BCBS of GA): With locations, offices and providers statewide, including Atlanta, Columbus, and Albany, BCBS of GA is a popular choice among Georgia residents. The BCBS of GA website allows visitors to get rates online for both individual and family plans, medicare plans and group health plans.

Kaiser Permanente of Georgia: On their website you can learn about and manage health and wellness online. You can also find doctors statewide including areas like Macon, Savannah, Athens and Marietta.

Humana Health of Georgia: With locations in Augusta, Roswell and many other cities, Humana Health of Georgia has both Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) plans and Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plans as well as Point-of-Service (HMO Plus) plans.

Get Started with Georgia Health Insurance

Now that you've armed yourself with knowledge and made some decisions about the right health insurance plan for you, it's time to get started. With all the options available to Georgia residents, there's no excuse not to have insurance. Hedging your financial risk, encouraging preventative care, and helping ensure that you get the best in care when you need it, health insurance will surely become your most valued asset. Your budget, your family and your health is depending on it.

Through the hard work and dedication of the people in Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia, they are committed to bring you the best Georgia health insurance policies available in the state. Once you use our easy-to-use form to enter your information, if you are in Georgia, you will get a choice of a wide variety of health insurance plans.

Georgia Lumenos Health Insurance Plan Guide:

Welcome to the Lumenos Georgia Health Insurance Plan
Learning How to Join the Lumenos Georgia Health Insurance Plan
Enrolling in Georgia's Lumenos Health Insurance Plan
How the Lumenos Georgia Health Insurance Plan Works
Information on Providers & Benefits for the Lumenos Georgia Health Insurance Plan
Online Tools of the Lumenos Georgia Health Insurance Plan
Covered Lumenos Georgia Health Insurance Services
More Covered Services Under the Lumenos Georgia Health Insurance Plan
Surgical and Other Georgia Lumenos Health Insurance Plan Coverage
Maternity and Mental Health Care Coverage from Lumenos Georgia Health Insurance
Hospital Services and More from Lumenos Georgia Health Insurance
Services Not Covered by Lumenos Georgia Health Insurance
Claims and Appeals Under the Lumenos Georgia Health Insurance Plan
Procedures for Appealing Claims under Lumenos Georgia Health Insurance
Leaving the Lumenos of Georgia Health Insurance Plan
More Information on Leaving the Lumenos of Georgia Health Insurance Plan
Third Party Liability Under Georgia's Lumenos Health Insurance Plan
Subrogation Under Georgia's Lumenos Health Insurance Plan
More Plan Information from Lumenos Georgia Health Insurance
Common Definitions Used by Lumenos Health Insurance of Georgia
More Definitions Used by Georgia's Lumenos Health Insurance Company