Good Health, Proper Diet Can Mean Lower Rates

People are more focused than ever on exercising and maintaining a proper diet, which bodes well for their health insurance costs in the long run.

One way to maintain the right diet is to eat plenty of fruit and vegetables and to be moderate when consuming high-sugar products like soda.

However, a Los Angeles Times report points out that many consumers may be unaware that the fruit juice they drink may be far less healthy than they think, with health hazards comparable to soda such as higher levels of fructose. The newspaper quoted Dr. Charles Billington of the University of Minnesota as saying that fruit juice is "pretty much the same as sugar water."

Generally, the government advises people to consume at least several servings of fruits and vegetables in any given day, and it even maintains a website through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called FruitsAndVeggiesMatter.gov.

With the right diet, people can hold off serious medical conditions like diabetes and heart disease that contribute significantly to overall costs and, as pre-existing conditions, make the cost of individual health insurance higher.