How Much Health Insurance Will Cost You

Although American healthcare costs tend to be a tad on the high side, healthcare premiums tend to be drastically lower. According to the Milliman Medical Index, which tracks these things, healthcare costs exceeded $28,000 for a family of 4 in 2018. That includes the average cost of insurance paid by companies and workers, as well as deductibles.

Fortunately, most of us are not responsible for paying nearly that much. For instance, although the total healthcare costs of individuals are said to be around $18,764 annually, out of pocket costs, such as premiums and co-pays, are only about $5,714 per year.

Still, that’s nothing to sneeze at. If you’d rather be making money on your health than spending it, check out this app called Healthywage. Healthywage will pay you real money for completing weight loss challenges. Sure beats paying another co-pay.

The Affordable Care Act introduced a tiered system of healthcare coverage. Although there seems to be some effort to revamp the system, the healthcare system maintains the tiered option. Depending on which package fits your needs, the prices break down as follows:

• Catastrophic coverage– Bare minimum coverage; monthly cost around $167; annual premium approximately $1,999
• Bronze coverage– This provides you with a bit extra coverage; monthly cost around $201; premium around $2,411
• Silver coverage– This plan provides relatively better coverage than previous tiers; the average monthly cost is around $247; the annual premium is approximately $2,961
• Gold coverage– average monthly cost of $291; annual premium of $3,487
• Platinum coverage– This is the best coverage available; the average monthly cost is around $363; the annual premium is around $4,360.

Overall, healthcare coverage can be costly but it is also very necessary. No matter if there is a mandate or not, purchasing the proper health insurance coverage is the only way to prevent yourself from incurring huge healthcare costs. Once you have those huge medical bills, digging out from under a heap of medical debt requires strict discipline and sometimes outside help, such as loans and even debt consolidation.