With the migration of health care services and health insurance information to the Internet there are a great many questions that have arisen regarding the Law and how it protects you when looking for free insurance quotes. Whether you are in a doctor’s office or on a website, you still have a reasonable expectation of privacy, as prescribed by the law. The law has recently addressed this issue concerning health insurance information and quotes.
You as a consumer should study the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, before you begin to use these services. You are legally protected and you should know your rights. An increasing number of Internet sites will provide consumers with free health insurance quotes from different health insurance providers and they forward them to you right in your email inbox. Often, these types of services are making money from the commissions they are earning by bringing new business to one of the insurance companies you are receiving a quote form.
This is an important service and can provide significant advantages to consumers seeking free health quotes. The most important aspect of this is that the consumer can see different rates from different companies for the same services they are considering. Oftentimes these services will have detailed information on the kind of plans they offer and the specifics of the service as well.
Because they are providing rate information from different health insurance providers, the information that they need is anonymous. This means that they ask for no personal information other than age, gender, location (usually by zip code) and if you smoke cigarettes or not. They are able to generate free health quotes instantly based on a chart of averages.
For example, if you are a male of 25 years and live in zip code 90210, the law allows the quote website to given you a quote based on the average prices for that group of people. Consumers should know that a free quote could vary form the actual rate charged. This is because when you fill out the application for your policy, you give much more detailed information than is required for the free quote. This extra information is what determines the actual price.