Buyers often get a good sense of the overall insurance market when looking for health insurance online, but in understanding quotes, it's helpful to consider the various factors that affect health insurance costs as a whole. One example is healthcare politics. Politics certainly can cause a major change in insurance prices, as new laws can change the costs that insurers and healthcare providers take on in offering their services.

The first major area of healthcare legislation is regulation. Some amount of regulation is certainly necessary, as healthcare law can affect the value of policies and ensure that all policy holders are receiving a fair deal. However, any amount of regulation will usually increase the cost of healthcare, which affects the cost of insurance. Hospitals, physicians and insurance providers have to spend more money on compliance, and unfortunately, this cost is typically transferred to consumers. A major argument against healthcare legislation like the Affordable Care Act is that the extra regulations put on insurance companies and healthcare providers will cause a major increase in the cost of a standard insurance plan, which can be particularly damaging to employers who offer insurance as a benefit.

However, healthcare politics is very complex, and regulation isn't the only issue on the table. A healthcare law can also bring down the cost of health insurance, by either compelling individuals to find plans and to stay insured or by bringing down the costs of healthcare. Healthcare costs are brought down by incentive programs for doctors, tort reform and through other types of laws that are designed to make it easier for physicians to perform their services without taking on unnecessary costs. The Affordable Care Act's proponents point to cost-cutting measures in the bill and its so-called "health insurance mandate", which uses a tax incentive to compel individuals and business to buy insurance. They argue that these measures will increase the number of health insurance buyers in the United States, which will in turn bring down the cost of both healthcare and health insurance. The extent of these decreases in cost is a matter of great debate, of course, and in many instances it's difficult to tell what effect a certain piece of legislation will have on the insurance market until it takes effect.

Healthcare politics and legislation are a very important factor in setting insurance prices, and buyers looking for health insurance online may find major changes in premiums after a significant piece of legislation takes effect. The entire insurance market changes as politicians try to find the right blend of regulation and incentives to protect buyers while limiting healthcare costs and allowing all Americans to purchase an affordable insurance policy.