As a self employed person, I carry my own health and life insurance for my family. When making the move from New Jersey to North Carolina in 2004 I knew two things about our health insurance:

1. I would have to shop for a health insurance provider covering North Carolina.

2. Rates would be cheaper than in New Jersey, with costs being about half of what I had been paying and with slight better coverage.

Several weeks before we moved I contacted a well known internet insurance broker and received quotes. We selected one company and received the paperwork from the broker about ten days before our move. Quite frankly, I wish I had started the process a little earlier as all of our free time was dedicated toward preparing and making the move. So, I ended up packing the paperwork with my personal stuff and was only able to fill it out and submit it one week after our arrival in North Carolina.

Dealing with the online insurance broker was a simple task, but I soon discovered that they were an extra step in the application process, one that only slowed down our approval.

Once the paperwork was received by the broker, they acknowledged the same via email and mentioned that they would review our package before forwarding it to the health insurance company.

Over the next couple of weeks we received messages from the insurance broker stating the following:

1. We are in the process of reviewing your application.

2. We have sent your application off to the insurance company.

3. The insurance company has your application and will be reviewing it in about one week.

4. The insurance company expects a delay in reviewing your application due to the high volume of applications received.

5. Please do not contact the insurance company directly; we will keep you posted as to the status of your application. Yeah, right.

Originally, we were assured by the insurance broker that the health insurance company would review and approve our application within two weeks. Follow up phone calls by us to the broker along with several exchanges of emails revealed that this was not going to happen. In addition, when we contacted the health insurance company directly at the encouragement of the broker the health insurance company had difficulty finding our application. Within a few days the application was found sitting in another department; our contact at the health insurance company blamed the broker for sending the information to the wrong address.

As it turned out, the original insurance quote we received online was off by just over 20%. Once the health insurance company determined that certain pre existing conditions needed to be factored in our rates rose accordingly. Of course, when working with the internet broker we knew that the rate quoted wasnt absolute but the big jump was still a bitter pill to swallow.

Among our thoughts at that point in the process were:

1. Had we known ahead of time that our final rate would be so high, we would have shopped around some more.

2. Because of the delays and the passage of time, we needed to complete the application process as our coverage with the NJ health provider would need to be canceled, preferably by the end of the year.

By the middle of December, a full ten weeks after we submitted our paperwork, we received official notification that our application was approved and that we were covered. During the last couple of weeks of the lengthy application process we contacted the health insurance company directly several times to learn what the status of our application was. At no time during the process were we assured that we would receive approval; essentially we were told that coverage would begin pending approval.

In conclusion, I offer the following recommendations for shopping for health insurance:

1. Comparison shop online. Get quotes through the online brokers to get a general idea of what your costs will be. If you have pre-existing conditions, the prices quoted will not be reflected in your quote.

2. Narrow down the list of companies quoted to three and then contact them directly. Bypass the broker as they are an unnecessary additional step in what certainly is not a quick approval process.

3. If you need insurance by a particular date, apply well in advance to allow for delays, for misplaced paperwork, changes in your application, etc. Our insurance coverage was approved effective a specific date, but we were able to move it to another date to coincide with the dropping of our NJ health care provider.

In all, the experience was wearisome at times and a real eye opener. I know you see ads all the time for online insurance quotes. I am not saying to avoid the sites, but please consider what we went through before using an online broker exclusively.

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The alternative method would be to consult a local insurance agent or broker. Consulting these professionals would certainly help a person to gauge the market trend. An insurance broker would be aware of state and federal legislation and regulations pertaining to health insurance plans. There are umpteen numbers of policies offered by a host of insurance companies. The insurance brokers would also be well-equipped with information pertaining to insurance companies and types of coverage that each insurance plan would offer. Hence, they would help asses your needs and suggest a solution that meets your unique requirements. In that sense, insurance agents help in saving a lot of time that would have to be spent in identifying the ideal policy, filling out applications and submitting them to the appropriate offices.

Independent brokers do not work for any other agency. In theory this would ensure that they are unbiased and would provide highly personalized attention. Even after purchasing the insurance, these agents would help in getting the most out of the coverage plan. There is also a 75 year old association for insurance agents and brokers called the National Association of Health Underwriters. An agent belonging to this association would certainly be a good choice.

Consumer Guides to Individual Health Insurance, Group Health Insurance, Continuation of Coverage, Long-Term Care and Health Care Coverage Options Database are few of the resources which provide extensive information about private insurance companies and critical information pertaining to them. These resources could prove to be invaluable in choosing the right insurance plan. Another way of getting to know about insurance plans is to post queries in insurance related forums. A majority of doctors also have a fair knowledge about the health insurance plans. A strategy deploying a combination of these resources would help in obtaining a lower health insurance quote.

When looking for a low insurance quote you should consider a wide variety of factors. Because online insurance companies often have a much lower overhead they can often offer you prices unparalleled by other competitors. That said, however, they cannot always offer you the individual care and guidance that brick and mortar agents and brokers can. Consequently, it is important when shopping to sample as wide a variety of sources as you can in attempting to attain the best insurance quote.

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Someone who occasionally smokes socially and someone who smokes everyday can end up in the same insurance category. He will pay even more if he smokes more than 20 cigarettes a day. Often premium rates for smokers can be up to three times the rate non-smokers pay. This is because insurance companies believe that smoking amplifies the risk of untimely death.

The financial penalties of smoking extend far past the price of a pack of cigarettes. In addition to the nickel-and-dime of a pack of smokes every time he runs out, the smoker endures costly consequences to lighting up.

Homes and vehicles that retain the stench of cigarette smoke lose resale value. Smokers can also be penalized when shopping for a new home because insurance companies believe smokers are more likely to burn down the house.

Smokers will also pay more for health insurance, dry cleaning and yearly teeth cleaning appointments. All of these costs add up quickly to put a hefty dent in a smokers wallet.

It isnt simply what a smoker pays in extra an expense that reduces funds, but being paid less in the first place can cause his bank account to suffer as well. Studies have shown that smokers earn up to 11 percent less than non-smokers. These figures not only take into account time wasted on smoke breaks, but first impressions as well. Smokers may be perceived as less attractive and therefore passed by for jobs.

Insurance costs arent the only money matters smokers have to worry about; however, it is a huge issue. A smoker literally burns his money away. That nicotine rush can cost thousands of dollars a year more in insurance premiums.

While saving money on insurance premiums may not persuade him to quit smoking, a smoker may not be conscious of how much the habit is actually costing him. He may even lose his job. There have been several companies in the news recently who have fired employees who smoke simply because they pay more insurance on smokers than non-smokers.

It begs the question, is it worth the cost?

But, the high cost of smoking doesnt necessarily only affect the smoker himself. Documented studies have shown that Americans spend over 60 billion dollars a year treating smoking related illnesses. Women who choose to smoke during pregnancy cost the country another 3 billion dollars a year. It also causes the deaths of 2,500 unborn babies a year and results in low birth weight and life-long complications in countless others.

Fires set by smokers who fall asleep or are otherwise careless with their habit, cost the government 500 million dollars a year. The human cost is great, as fires started by cigarettes take the lives of more than 2,000 people a year.

Smokers with group life insurance push up premiums for smokers in the same pool by 4 billion dollars a year.

Smoking is by far the most prevalent cause of untimely death in the United States today. More than 400,000 people a year pay with their money and their lives to light up a cigarette.

That quick fix can not only be deadly, but greatly reduce quality of life as well. Be it human life, depreciation of property, health factors or jacked-up life insurance premiums, the decision to smoke cigarettes is costly.

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