With increasingly rising health care costs and a continued struggling economy, it can be very tempting to assume that high premiums automatically indicate the premium quality health insurance and that lower premiums on health insurance quotes indicate a lower quality of benefits and insurance. Prospective policy holders often tend to eschew the purchase of health insurance, assuming that if they cannot afford the high premiums on health insurance quotes, they will not be able to get a health insurance policy that is worth the money they pay for it each month. This is not a factual assumption and there are many ways that a policy holder on a limited budget can still have access to quality health insurance quotes without having to pay high premiums.

One reason that higher premiums do not always mean better insurance is because sometimes the policy contains benefits and services that the policy holder does not require. Some policies will have higher costs because costs can vary by geographic region, and region that the prospective policy holder resides in may actual be considered at a lower risk and thus will carry a lower premium. Additionally, with the wealth of options available today, including health maintenance organizations (HMOs), preferred provider organizations (PPOs), Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), and other structures, purchasing a health insurance policy with a higher premium may not even provide a policy that is the best one for the insured's needs. With the decision to visit in-network providers through an HMO, for instance, a high quality of service is still delivered at a lower premium rate.

Another reason that higher premiums do not always mean better insurance is because premium rates are often based on individual factors such as age, gender, family medical history, tobacco and alcohol habits, pre-existing conditions, and other factors. So having a higher premium assessed, which relates to the underwriting process and the relative risk the insurance provider assumes for providing insurance coverage to a policy holder, does not necessarily indicate a higher quality of insurance policy, but simply the risk of possible future claims payouts to the insurance carrier. Two individuals who hold the same policy may pay different premium rates based on the risk the insurance company bears for providing coverage.

Understanding how high premiums come about and how they serve as barriers to entry for high risk individuals can assist a prospective customer with independently assessing the value of health insurance quotes without falling into the trap of automatically assuming that higher premiums means better insurance coverage. In this way, a prospective policy holder can feel more confident about conducting their search for a policy that is friendly to both their budget and their healthcare needs.