You probably already knew that living a healthy lifestyle, avoiding tobacco, and watching your waistline all have a positive effect on your health insurance premiums. However, you might not have known about these four risk factors that might be affecting your health insurance premiums.

1. Your Job

People who work in high risk environments, such as careers with a risk of injury or job sites with exposure to chemicals and radiation, often pay more for their health insurance premiums than those who do not. On the flip side, those working mostly sedentary jobs may also pay more for their insurance premiums due to the increased chance of heart disease.

2. Your Relationship Status

Interestingly, married people tend to live longer and stay healthier than single people. For that reason, married people, especially men, often have lower health insurance premiums than single people.

3. Your Zip Code

People living in areas known for high pollution or high obesity rates often pay more for their health insurance. Of course, most of us aren’t able to move just to lower our premiums, but if you are already planning for a big move, it might pay to do some research about possible locations beforehand.

4. Your Insurance History 

If you’ve were previously uninsured, you may find yourself paying more for your health insurance. Insurance companies assume that you’ve been waiting for medical care until you had insurance again and that you will have multiple expensive bills pile up fairly quickly. For this reason, it pays to make sure you don’t let your insurance lapse.

Many of these factors affecting your insurance premiums are outside of your control. Career changes are hard to come by, your past insurance history can’t be changed now, moves don’t happen at the drop of a hat, and no one would recommend getting married just to lower your premiums. That said, there are many insurance risk factors that you do have control over.

Stay healthy, control your weight, and quit smoking. Your health insurance premiums will reap the benefits. Living healthfully is good for your wallet, but more importantly, it’s good for your quality of life.

At Ramey King Insurance we work hard to find the best insurance for your personal situation. We are a local, independent insurance agency representing over 80 insurance companies, which allows us to research various possibilities before pairing you with the coverage the truly meets your requirements. Please contact us for more information.