10 factors that could affect your health insurance premium
Getting the right health insurance is essential for everyone in this era when the cost of medical treatment goes higher and higher. However, health insurance is also an agreement where the buyer has to pay a premium, and in lieu of that, the service provider offers the desired services. Different factors affect the premium of health insurance for different profiles. Here are some of the factors that affect the premium for a health insurance plan.
- Medical condition: This is the most crucial factor that can drive the company to decide the premium. To check the medical status of the body, the companies prefer to get a few of the reports done. In these reports, they can determine if the concerned person is fit to offer insurance for a particular amount or not. If the medical reports of the client are not good the same can be rejected or rated up by the service provider.
- Family History: Family history has a direct relation with the present and future medical condition of the person. If the parents suffer from blood pressure or diabetes or both, there are high chances of getting them to the next generation also. This can make the service provider determine the health hazard it may have to bear after offering the coverage to the concerned client.
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- Pre-existing diseases: The pre-existing diseases can help the insurance service provider determine if the concerned client can be offered coverage as asked or not. It also helps the same to decide right coverage at a specific premium. There are also clauses where these diseases can be covered after a specific period say 90 days or two years. These clauses vary from service provider to service provider. In case of constant renewal, the same can be covered by the service provider after the given period.
- Gender: The health hazards also differ with gender as there are specific diseases that females have to suffer from rather males. Hence as per the policy of the concerned service provider, the rate of premium varies with the gender. However, it does not mean that a person with specific gender will have to pay the higher premium only while another will not have to as there are other factors also which play their role in determining the premium.
- Habits and lifestyle: People who consume tobacco or having a habit of drinking may have to face more health issues than others. Hence if one uses these things, he may be prone to diseases such as cancer which increases the risk to the service provider. Looking at the same such applicants are either declined with the application or offered the coverage with a higher premium. Those who are with a sedentary lifestyle may also be prone to various diseases, and hence the stand of the service provider remains the same in their cases too.
- Marital status: Probably Insurance service providers believe that married people are serious about their health due to responsibility of family and those who are unmarried or not with family may have a casual approach to health. This has a considerable impact on the premium also.
- Profession: The type of work one does or profession he is in has a direct relation to his health status. In the case of a pilot, the risk to the insurance service provider is higher than in the case of a doctor. Hence those who are associated with risky jobs such as mining, driving commercial vehicles, etc. have to pay a higher amount as premium compared to the people related to ordinary jobs, professions or businesses. One is also checked with his level of stress in the job, physical condition while working and other factors that can affect the health of an individual to check if the profile of the concerned applicant falls in a risky category.
- Location: The area or location of an individual where he stays also plays a good role in deciding the premium amount. If one stays in a polluted area, there can be more risk on his health compared to the one who stays in a rural or suburban area with a pleasant environment. The premium for the residents in the city, town and villages also vary due to this factor only.
- Age: This is one of the crucial factors that affect the amount of premium. The simple logic here is one who is with higher age may be at more risk to diseases, and hence he has to pay a higher premium compared to the one who is young and much healthy. The health standard of a human body deteriorates with the time, and hence the amount of premium also gets increased with the age of the same person only. However, if one enjoys good health and there is no claim the same is also considered while determining the health insurance.
- History of previous insurance if there is any: If the client has any prior health insurance he may be offered the new policy at a reasonable rate but if he does not have any insurance and goes the first time for the same he may develop a habit of reaping undue benefits of medical checkups and claims. Looking at this risk also, the insurances providers charge higher premium from the client for the first time.
These are some of the crucial factors that affect the premium of health insurance from different service providers.