Being able to afford health care insurance is a big problem for numerous individuals here in Alabama. In fact, the problem has become so severe that close to 17 percent of all Alabama residents can’t afford health care insurance of any kind.

Fortunately the state of Alabama has made low-cost health care insurance available to numerous individuals who may not otherwise be able to afford it. Children under the age of eighteen, college students, pregnant women and others may be able to qualify for low-cost health care insurance through one or more state-sponsored programs.

For those individuals who don’t qualify for a state-sponsored program there are still a few simple things you can do that may help to reduce the price of your monthly health care insurance premium. And once you know what things you can do to reduce the price of your health care insurance, then it will be time to get web-based and compare the price of your premium-saving policy at every health care insurance business that sells policies in Alabama until you have found the very lowest price possible for the insurance you need.

Let’s start with some lifestyle changes. These are the most difficult things for most individuals to do, even though they can potentially save the most on your health care insurance.

Do not smoke or use chew or any other tobacco product. You know in your heart of hearts that tobacco products aren’t good for your health, and  insurance companies know this too. That is why they charge tobacco users anywhere from 20 percent to 50 percent more for their health care insurance than they charge non-smokers.

Losing weight is even more difficult than stopping use of tobacco for most people, but if you are overweight you are going to pay more for your health care insurance. Again, this is  a fact of life. The good news is that losing even a small amount of weight can potentially drop you down on the insurance company’s weight chart and can potentially save you hundreds of dollars each and every year in premium payments. Every little bit can potentially help.

Are your weekends filled with extreme or dangerous sports or hobbies? As fun and exciting as they may be, the fact is you are going to pay more for health care insurance if you put your life and health at risk unnecessarily. The same goes for driving a fancy sports car.

And were you aware that your credit rating can also affect how much you pay for your health care insurance ? As strange as it may seem, the better your credit score the reduce your health care insurance premium.

Group health care insurance is always less costly than individual health care, plus group plans will often overlook use of tobacco, weight and some pre-existing health conditions that would drive the price through the roof if you were buying an individual policy. If your place of employment doesn’t offer a group plan start asking around at any club, organization or association you belong to. You may be surprised to find that some group you never even thought about provides its members group health care insurance. Ask your friends and co-workers if any of them belong to a group, club or association that provides group health care insurance – and then see if you can join. Ask if any religious organization you belong to provides its members group health care insurance.

Look into joining an Health Maintenance Organization a PPO or some other form of health maintenance organization. If your favorite medical provider isn’t part of an Health Maintenance Organization then you may need to switch medical providers, but often you can keep your same medical provider if you join a PPO. See if one of these kinds of groups makes economic sense to you.

If you own a home-based company it may be possible to qualify for group health care insurance even if your only employee is a spouse. Ask your insurance broker if this is possible in your case. But even if group health isn’t a possibility, it still may be possible to deduct your health care insurance payments from your taxes if you own your own company- and the tax savings could help offset the price of your premiums to the point where health care insurance is more low cost than you thought.

What about your co-payment and your deductible? If you can increase your co-payment and/or your deductible you can reduce the price of your health care insurance. Obviously raising your co-payment and/or your deductible must be considered carefully as any increase in either represents cash that’s coming out of your pocket.

It’s finally time for you to take the tips and tricks you picked up from this article and use them when filling out the form on at least 3 of the Web sites which allow you to compare health care insurance rates among the different insurance companies.

Make sure that you complete the form exactly the same way on all three of the comparison Web sites you have chosen and then  pick the business with the lowest price (being careful to choose a business that you feel confident will still be around when you need them), and your job is done!

You have now compared low cost health care insurance in Alabama, you have picked the lowest-priced business and you can feel good about the fact that you are obtaining the coverage you need at a price you can afford.