If you have employer-sponsored insurance through your or your spouse’s work, you are still likely to have to pay some portion of the premium. Most likely premium payments will be deducted from your paycheck on a regular basis. If you work in a large organization, find out if your or your spouse’s employer has a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) program. If you can anticipate and budget for medical expenses that will not be covered, such as prescriptions or dentist visits or eye glasses, you can ask that the amount of money you will need be taken out of your paycheck pre tax and put in the Flexible Spending Account. You still pay the expenses but they are tax free dollars. Note that as a result of the 2010 healthcare reform legislation the contribution limit on FSAs (meaning the amount you can contribute in pre-tax dollars toward your account) will be lowered to $2,500.

If you purchase individual insurance you will be responsible for making payments on your own. Ask your agent about the payment terms for coverage, including what happens if you are unable to make full payments. Consider setting up a separate account that you deposit money into specifically to pay for your health insurance premium.

You may want to consider looking into the possibility of opening a Healthcare Savings Account (HSA) to help create savings for health-related expenses if you work for a small organization or are self-employed. HSAs are pre-tax savings accounts where a designated portion of your pre-tax income is automatically deposited into an account that you can then use for future health-care related costs such as co-payments for office visits, prescription drug costs, etc. Because HSAs allow you to have money withdrawn from your paycheck pre-tax it also lowers your taxable income, which means that you are saving money both toward your health care costs and saving money in taxes. Learn more about HSAs at the Health Savings Account Resource Center.

As you’re reviewing your health insurance options, make sure you understand the quotes you are getting – exactly what the costs are, what the payment schedule is, and what services the policy enables you to receive. Some experts say that because insurance is so complicated and confusing, people give up before they actually find out how much the policies will cost for the coverage they want. So don’t give up early! Before you jump to the assumption that you can’t currently afford coverage, make sure you have done the calculations and considered all of your options.