Everyone wants affordable health insurance, but if your insurance policy does not provide sufficient coverage, you won't be saving yourself money in the long run. Here's a good way to determine if your current health insurance policy is providing enough coverage for your family's needs:

Evaluate Last Year's Medical Expenses

Assuming last year was a typical year for your family health-wise, take the time to go through your medical expenses and total up how much you paid out in premiums and how much you paid out-of-pocket for co-pays and to satisfy deductibles. Then total up how much your insurance company covered for the year. Make note of what kinds of expenses your family incurred. For example, did you have a lot of office visits? Prescription medication charges? Therapy sessions? On-going treatments?

What Limitations to Watch Out For

There are many limitations to consider. For example, if you need on-going therapy, you will want to check out the number of therapy sessions covered in a year. If you have an upcoming procedure or treatment you can anticipate (for example, a pregnancy or surgical procedure), you will want to make sure you have sufficient coverage for the anticipated expenses.

Compare Policies

Now that you have a rough idea of what you can expect your family to require for medical expenses in an average year, you should compare your current health insurance policy with other options. Look for the most affordable health insurance policy that will provide sufficient coverage within your family's restrictions.

The following are two examples of policies on the polar opposites of the insurance spectrum:

Low Premium, High Deductible

On one end of the spectrum, we have the low premium but high deductible insurance policy. This is best for families who have low medical expenses each year because they can pay the low premium and hopefully stay healthy and avoid seeing the doctor much, meaning they may not have to pay into the deductible hardly at all. However, such a family is still covered if an accident or unforeseen illness occurs.

High Premium, Low Deductible

On the other end, we have the case of a family with high medical expenses. Perhaps you are about to have a baby, and your husband has decided he wants to seek therapy and medication for his depression. In this case, you'll want to pay the higher premium but have total coverage of all prenatal and postpartum visits, plus a high number of covered therapy sessions and good prescription medication coverage.

You may fall somewhere in between these two polar opposites, but you'll want to find affordable health insurance that provides exactly the amount of coverage you need.