Anytime your employer (or your spouses employer) offers health insurance plans, taking advantage of a group plan will almost always get you the best rates possible – definitely better than if you were to try to get the same plan privately. In some instances, it may even be beneficial to have coverage from both employers: the husband’s and the wife’s, but keep in mind that double coverage will not allow you or your providers to collect payment on more than 100% of the cost.

Working couples with insurance from two employers may be able to get more or pay less than one-income couples. Depending on the premiums and benefits of each available plan, the best deal may be separate coverage for each, double coverage for both, or forgoing one spouse’s coverage in favor of the other’s. If you have kids, you’ll need to compare your options for family coverage.

Another way to get a good family medical insurance policy is to look at other groups, clubs, associations, etc. that may offer it. You may already belong to some group that gives its members group health insurance; such as USAA. Both my wife and I are eligible for USAA coverage because we’ve had family members who have served in the military. If you’re in the market for health care coverage, it may be a good idea to look into joining a group or association that could offer discounted health care plans and coverage options.

Esure Insurance is an insurance company based out of the United Kingdom that launched strictly online in order to save its customers money by harnessing the power and efficiency of the internet. Esure Insurance was founded by Peter Wood in 2000 using the internet as the primary sales channel. Mr. Peter Wood had previously founded an insurance company called Direct Line back in 1985 which sold insurance over the telephone.

Esure Insurance company had a great boom in its first five years, gaining over one million customers in that time. Esure definitely had the right idea, and still looks like it is doing great. The Esure website is easy to navigate and has a great clean design and layout. From the homepage, you can select one of the 6 types of insurance that you want (or that you already have with Esure):

• Car Insurance
• Home Insurance
• Pet Insurance
• Travel Insurance
• Motorbike Insurance
• Van Insurance

It’s funny that they have a category specifically for “Vans”, but I guess things are different across the pond.  Anyhow, after selecting the type of insurance that you want/have, you are presented with a simple list of options:

• Get a quote
• Retrieve a quote
• Renew or view my policy
• Plus plenty of links for navigating ad learning more about the type of insurance that you’re viewing, such as: Making a claim, Claim FAQ’s, Policy Information, Will you insure me, etc.

All in all, Esure sounds like a great idea and the website seems like it is built for simplicity and growth – it does what it’s supposed to do.

Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) were created by the Medicare bill signed by President Bush on December 8, 2003 and are designed to help individuals save for future qualified medical and retiree health expenses on a tax-free basis.

Health Savings Accounts are a great option for saving money if you have enough discretionary income to put money (or make a contribution as I like to call it) to your HSA account on a regular basis. That being said, HSA accounts aren’t necessarily for everyone as money can only be taken out (tax free) in order to pay for qualified medical expenses. If money is otherwise taken out, it can be taxed.

For the past three years, my business partner and I have had PacifiCare health insurance as our primary health insurance provider. When we started our coverage, our monthly premium was just over $500 per month. At our yearly renewal, our premium jumped up to right about $600 – more than a 10% increase, but it was still manageable so we kept the coverage for another year. At the yearly renewal on our third year, the monthly rate jumped to $800. More than a 30% increase! For the same coverage we had before! At the time, we hadn’t shopped around for any other options (because we are idiots) and our company was doing very well, so we kept the insurance plan for one more year. Then finally, last March, when our plan came up for renewal again, the price was going to jump up to $1,042. Another 30% increase! Now I don’t know too much about insurance, or the way its priced, but I think PacifiCare was price gouging.

Seeing a 20% increase the first year, then a 30% increase in years two and three is just absurd to me. When we started shopping around to find similar plans, we found plenty out there that offered the same, if not better coverage for less than half of what PacifiCare wanted to charge us for the same coverage. Why would PacifiCare want to increase their premiums so much? And why would they want to price small businesses out of the market? Let’s face it, most small business owners are always looking for way to save money, so when the cost of health insurance doubles in 3 years time they will obviously begin to shop for other options. One suggestion I’ve heard is that PacifiCare was trying to adjust their portfolio to large companies, and so they just kept increasing premiums (astronomically) on small businesses and groups of under 50 employees. If the small business would pay the inflated premium, then PacifiCare would keep them, but if they weren’t willing to pay twice what the market rate was at, PacifiCare wouldn’t budge and would let them find insurance elsewhere.

If you ask me, that is a terrible way to run a business and I’ll never be going back to PacifiCare. I started an online search with Health Quote Insider and found a great deal… less than half of what we were paying with Pacificare, and almost 1/3 of what we would have been paying if we would have stuck with them after the rate increase. Another site that offered good deals was 2 Insure 4 Less, but you have to fill out a couple of pages worth of information there… the Health Quote Insider site is much quicker and easier when you are just looking for a healthcare quote.

When it comes to saving money on health insurance, the best advice I could give is to make sure that you’re not paying for something that you don’t need, or worse off, something that you’ll never use.

There are many different health insurance companies out there, and there is no question that each company offers many plans that greatly differ from the plans that the next company offers. Talk with an insurance broker and discuss your wants and needs. Your insurance broker will be able to find insurance plans that fit you specifically to make sure that you are not paying for unecessary coverage.

For instance, if you’re a newly married couple who has decide to focus on your careers for 5 years prior to having children, it would be a good idea to consider coverage that does not include maternity care.

Stop paying those huge broker fees and start saving yourself money on your car insurance and auto insurance premiums. There is no point to go through an insurance broker for car insurance when you can get the same plan directly from the company! Save yourself the fees!

Get a quote now and potentially save over $500/year on car insurance! No filling out long tedious forms… Simply select your state and compare rates! After you’ve chosen your state, select the company that you’d like to receive a quote from.