Health Insurance for Families

Finding a good individual policy is already hard enough, but when you're shopping for health insurance for your family too, your responsibilities and the choices you have to make are greatly multiplied.

This page:

  • Describes how private health insurance for families works

  • Lists some tips for shopping family health insurance

  • Helps you find competitive family health insurance quotes

Compare health plans and get instant quotes: The search for the best coverage at the lowest price starts with comparing as many plans as possible from providers in your area. To choose among the hundreds of plans available to you, use our fast and free comparison service to get quotes from major insurers in your state:

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The basics of health insurance for families

A good personal health policy can usually be expanded to offer health insurance coverage for your entire family, often with little effort.

You will need to assess both your and your family's needs, in addition to your budget, to decide, not only what type of policy you need, but also what health care services you want covered.

Of course, health insurance for you and your family is going to be a bit more expensive than insuring just yourself under an individual health insurance policy because there are both more people covered and the scope of coverage is likely to be larger (you may consider maternity care or prepare for braces).

The number of people in your family, as well as each family member's age, gender, tobacco use and state of residency, are all taken into account when determining your family health insurance quote.

What to look for in a family health insurance policy

Health insurance is always a balancing act between cost and risk, but when you want to cover an entire family, the calculations are going to change a little bit.

For example, even if the flexibility of a fee-for-service (indemnity) policy has a strong appeal for you, you should weigh the convenience of this policy against the cost of an entire family's need for preventative medicine, which traditionally isn not covered under an indemnity policy. Having to pay out-of-pocket for the annual check-ups of six people is a big expense.

On the other hand, if some members of your family have trusted personal physicians who aren't in a managed care network, the lower cost of a managed care policy might not be worth having to give up that security and familiarity.

We have more information to help you to learn more about selecting health plans, and finding affordable health insurance.

Getting a family health insurance quote

Applying online for a family health insurance quote at eHealthInsurance is the best way to guarantee that you get the best health insurance for family within your budget.

The application is simple and straightforward. After entering basic information for each family member, the system will list as many health insurance quotes in your area as are readily available. Get a free quote now.

If afterwards you would like to compare additional quotes, or if you'd like to speak with an agent, and get help with choosing your policy and setting coverage limits, be sure to also visit NetQuote.

Want to learn even more?

Take our free health insurance course. You'll learn the simple step-by-step process that will help you locate, evaluate, and purchase the best possible health plan for you and your family. (Or your small business).

Just ten easy lessons - start today