Kamini is a thought leader and expert when it comes to Marketing for Consumer Goods companies. Four months ago, she joined her current marketing consultancy after stints with consumer majors spanning over two decades.

Kamini has had a mild Asthma since childhood but never had to worry about her medical bills, insurance, or health facilities or type of accommodation her entire work life. All the companies she worked for over the years had excellent group insurance coverage, generous medical allowances with no caveats on which hospital to choose and what room type to stay, what tests were allowed or the type of hospital facilities.

Kamini took to running about a decade and a half ago, initially to fight Asthma and later because she fell in love with it, and hasn’t had an Asthma attack over the last 10 years. Though she still carries an inhaler and uses it once in a while, she has enjoyed a period of complete well being all these years. She is a regular at half marathons over the last 5 years, seizing every pportunity to run in the region whenever her busy schedule and family commitments permitted.

Two years ago, she was advised to stop running and choose less impact exercise regime as the wear and tear caused by her years of running were taking a heavy toll on her knees. Though she modified her work outs, she just couldn’t give up running totally.

Last May, she underwent a knee surgery and after a two month break, she was able to hit the road and was overjoyed at how new and wonderful the knees felt.

Two months ago, after she moved companies to join the current consulting major, she developed minor complications and had to get her knees re-examined. The first minor shock came when the insurance company declined her reimbursement citing pre-existing condition and that the coverage kicks in only after 12 months of continued employment.

Three weeks ago, she was advised by her knee surgeon to undergo a minor surgery to correct a small bone correction to improve the knee movement as a residual outcome of prior operation. The estimated cost, including hospitalization and surgery has been put at Rs. 2,50,000.

Kamini has two choices, get it operated now and pay the amount from her pocket (the company medical benefits would cover roughly 10% of the cost) or wait another eight months and then use the company insurance. It’s not a big amount, considering she is in the top tier salary bracket but what really got her worried was when she went shopping for a personal insurance coverage, no insurance company was willing to cover or quote and cited this is standard industry procedure.

Kamini anyway went ahead and bought personal health coverage with the exclusion of her knee with a promise to get the exclusion reexamined after a year of healthy living and was also able to negotiate on her Asthma coverage with a slight increase in premium considering she has been healthy all these years with no major problems. She has also modified her work outs to include cross training and cycling and now runs only once a week.

Kamini’s case isn’t unique, it’s what most of us think is an outlier, something that doesn’t affect us until someone close to us gets hit similarly when it suddenly takes center stage.

Group health insurance plans in general are company specific and cannot be ported over when we move employers. A pre-existing condition that one could have enjoyed coverage from a particular insurer may no longer be covered for another 12 months when one moves employers (or more or never depending upon the group health insurance plan) even if the insurer across the two companies is the same.

In addition, even when ported over, it may no longer come at the same premium or with same level of coverage.

Most people in their healthy and early years laugh off the idea of personal health insurance when this is precisely the best time when one should go for a health plan.

Not only it is much much cheaper for a person in his twenties vs. someone 20 years older (a quick check for a healthy male, in the age group of 20-25yrs vs. one in the age group of 40-45yrs, show a premium differential of approx 40% (approx Rs 4,000)* for a total yearly coverage of approx Rs 10lacs), a healthy body also would ensure no specific exclusions like Kamini’s.

Some of the insurers also provide coverage for pre-existing illness after you have been a policy holder for a few years. Spiralling medical bills can drain savings and in worse situations could wreak havoc on your assets and retirement planning. A personal health plan would ensure you would never have periods where you wouldn’t be fully covered when you move companies or decide to take a break or start something of your own, or god forbid, made redundant. These are the exact times when the last thing you would want would to be worrying about are money and your health.

So run a quick online check, avoid rude shocks of hefty medical bills or compromising on the medical facilities, or type of room or tests because you can’t afford it. Talk to an insurance expert who can help assess your need and advise you what plan works best taking your lifestyle, savings and income into account. It’s a small price to pay for complete peace of mind.

Knowing how to calculate your body mass index may save you some grief when you shop around for health insurance quotes. It’s fairly easy to do and you can find body mass calculators online. The most commonly used calculator is found at the National Health Lung and Blood Institute: http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/

Once you have that kind of information, you can make some decisions about your lifestyle choices, in particular around eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly. There’s no doubt about it, the better health and shape you are in, the more affordable health insurance will be.

Health insurance quotes seen on many of the sites you may visit reflect the best rate you are able to get. That rate is based on you being in prime shape and not having pre-existing health conditions. While you may feel like you are being cheated out of a good rate, the onus is on you to choose the healthiest lifestyle possible to fit the insurance rate you want.

The body mass index is not used to diagnose people, but to make educated guesses about their health based on their height and weight. Consider a 5 foot 6 inch woman who weighs 230 pounds. This person is likely to have diabetes, high blood pressure, difficulties breathing and may have asthma. This person’s body mass index would be 37.1.

An insurance company faced with an applicant at that weight, and with that kind of a body mass index will be hard pressed to provide the kind of coverage that individual may need. Some companies may declare the person to be uninsurable. If you want affordable health insurance quotes, take control of your lifestyle.

Before opting for a particular health insurance, just go ahead and compare health insurance options that are available in order to reap the maximum benefits of health coverage that can help in preventing problems in the days ahead. But an individual who looks at comparable coverage will observe that the target of all these health policies is preventive care. After having a look at the various health policies and their premiums, select the one that is ideal for you as well as your family. Though the premiums of these policies vary with respect to gender, age and several other factors, but this should not make you think that all these health insurance policies are very expensive and it will be impossible for you to pay the premiums. Choose those policies which are within your budget and cover yourself and your family against health related problems.

There are two popular types of Managed Care as far as health insurance in Florida is concerned. They are PPO (Preferred Provider Organization) insurance plans and HMO (Health Maintenance Organization) insurance plans. Majority of the Florida individual health insurance plans belong to any of these two categories. At Florida, you will also get Indemnity insurance plans but they are very expensive when compared to PPO insurance plans and HMO insurance plans. You can opt for a Florida HMO insurance plan when you need lower co-payments and you are comfortable in using the healthcare providers within the system. You can opt for a Florida PPO insurance plan when you require a much broader range of network providers and out-of-network coverage. You can also go for the Florida HSA (PPO) if you are looking forward to lowering the net cost of the Florida health insurance.

Compare health insurance policies before making your final choice so as to grab the right policy. It is also needed for minor children and students. Like for instance if you are in Florida, then you can opt for any of the Florida individual health insurance plans mentioned above. The choice is ultimately yours!