If you’re fortunate enough to have employer-provided health insurance, that narrows your options down to the plans that your employer offers. If you don’t have coverage through your job, perhaps an organization or association that you belong to will allow you to buy health insurance through them at a group rate.

Another option is to check your local Obamacare health insurance marketplace to see if you qualify for an upfront premium credit, which would get you reduced premium costs. Even if you don’t qualify for the credit right away, buying your health insurance through the marketplace means you may qualify for it when you file your tax return for the year.

If you can’t, or won’t, get health insurance from any of these sources, you’ll have to fall back on buying a private plan. It will give you the widest range of options, but likely will be far more expensive.

Decide which type of policy to buy

Health insurance policies come in a variety of basic types, although you may not have access to all of these options through your preferred source. Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) are a very common type of health insurance policy. With an HMO, you’re required to use healthcare providers within the policy’s network, and you have to get a referral from your primary care physician in order to see a specialist.

Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs) are also quite common. A PPO health insurance policy has a network, but you’re not limited to in-network care — although using network providers is cheaper — and you don’t need referrals to see specialists.

Exclusive Provider Organizations (EPOs) are a hybrid between HMOs and PPOs. You’re required to stick to the plan’s network, but don’t need referrals for specialists. Finally, Point of Service (POS) plans are a less common option that are essentially the opposite of an EPO. You’re not limited to the POS plan’s network, but do need a referral to see a specialist.

Of the four common types of plans, an HMO or EPO tends to be cheaper than a PPO or POS with the same level of coverage. However, if network coverage is poor in your area, or you’re uncomfortable limiting yourself to network providers, it may be worth paying a little more to get a PPO or POS policy.

More: Buyer beware: Long-term care costs are surging, survey says

More: Obamacare overhaul efforts are dead for now. What does that mean if you’re an Obamacare consumer?

More: Trump says he’ll negotiate with Democrats on health care plan

High deductible versus low deductible

All things being equal, the higher a plan’s deductible is, the lower the monthly premiums will be. A high deductible means that you’ll have to pay a lot of healthcare expenses yourself before the insurance policy kicks in, but if you have few or no medical expenses in a given year, these plans can be a bargain. Very low medical expenses means that you probably won’t surpass the deductible, even of a low-deductible plan, so getting a high-deductible plan keeps your insurance costs as low as possible while still protecting you in case something catastrophic happens.

If you decide to go the high-deductible route, getting a Health Savings Account (HSA)-enabled plan, and funding it with at least the equivalent of a year’s deductible, is your best option. An HSA plan neatly covers the biggest weakness of a high-deductible health insurance policy – namely, that you’d have to shell out a great deal of money on a major medical expense before the insurance would take over. If you have a full-year’s deductible tucked away in your HSA, you can just use that money to finance your share of the expenses, while simultaneously enjoying the triple tax advantage that an HSA offers.

More:Follow USA TODAY Money and Tech on Facebook

Comparing coverage

There are two major factors that affect how well a particular plan will cover your medical expenses: the plan’s network and its coverage policies. Even if you choose a plan with out-of-network options, like a PPO, you’re still better off using in-network health providers as much as possible because doing so will reduce your costs. And the rules that a given health insurance policy uses to decide what’s covered and what’s not – and how much the co-pays will be – can make a huge difference in how helpful a particular policy really is for you.

For example, if there’s a rather pricey medication that you take every day, you’ll definitely want to get a health insurance policy that lists that medication on its formulary. If you travel a lot, stick to plans that offer good out-of-area treatment options. And if you already have a primary care physician, you’ll definitely want to pick a plan that includes your doctor in its network.

Finding the best deal

If you’re stuck between two or three different policies and can’t decide which one to choose, try this exercise. Multiply the monthly premium by 12 to get your annual cost for a plan, then add in the plan’s out-of-pocket maximum. The result is the most you would end up spending on health care if you had one or more major medical expenses during the year. Do this calculation for each plan you’re considering, then compare the results. The plan with the lowest total is likely the best deal for you.

Many insurance agencies have not yet formalized their lead scoring system. This is a worthwhile endeavor for all agencies, and one which should be revisited every year, while tracking the return on investment of their marketing programs.

What is lead scoring? It is a methodology used to rank prospects against a scale, and then assign a value to determine interest level and distribution. For example, let’s say a trucking insurance lead appointment arrives at your agency. This lead is with an owner of 15 power units, they use company drivers, and they are unhappy with their carrier. Perhaps your lead scoring system falls on a 1 to 10 scale, and this lead is scored an 8. What might receive a higher score? And what types of leads are outside of profile, and what score would they receive? Perhaps prospects need to score an 8 to appear on your producer scorecards.

Is the lead distributed to producers by territory? Does your lead handling process vary by type of lead, product or prospect? For example, are commercial leads separated by large and small business, by industry or product? Are benefit leads parsed by groups over and under 50? And does your agency have a tracking system in place to determine how many leads showed for the appointment, moved into the pipeline, received quotes and ultimately convert into new business?

Salespeople, sales managers, producers and other business people often refer to prospects in vague terms such as: new, warm, hot, cold, likely, qualified, etc. These terms do little to better understand a sales pipeline or convey likelihood of purchase to other members of the team. Agencies can consider creating a simple prospect scorecard to resolve this issue and quantify their lead scoring. Formalizing lead scoring offers benefits such as:

Helps Producers create ideal attributes to form a buyer persona
Creates a simple numeric system to leverage your buyer persona
Assigns numeric values to rank your best prospects
Creates a simple qualification acronym to determine likelihood to close

What should be included in a prospect scorecard?

Use a prospect scorecard to quantify your approach to pipeline building. Some attributes of your ideal client might include revenue, growth rate, client type (business or consumer) and market niche. For example, are you targeting companies with $5m to $10m in revenue? Are your best prospects fast-growing firms, trucking companies, manufacturers or consumers?

If you’re selling to consumers, are they high net worth, middle-income, millennials or senior citizens? Are your prospects in a specific niche market such as banking, insurance, biotech, consulting, education, etc.? Create a scorecard with your ideal attributes and a customized qualification abbreviation to help you determine if you’re selling to an in-profile prospect.

Insurance agencies and brokers seeking to get to the next level with their insurance marketing and lead generation, but lacking the internal resources to achieve their marketing goals, can reach out to a proficient insurance agency marketing firm.

Start A Home Business And Get In The Black The Next Day

This is that wonderful time of year when the frost starts to thaw, flowers begin to bloom and everyone is either doing their taxes, finishing them,or fretting about said taxes. And possibly contemplating a revolution.

It’s no secret that in today’s economy, countless numbers of people are tying t find ways to make more money and quickly. The best way to make money fast is by starting a home based business; therefore it might come as a shock to some when I say it is possible to profit immediately when you start a home based business simply by applying some techniques to shield more of your hard-earned income from taxes instead keep it in your pockets.

However, I was taken aback at how many people who start a home based business don’t take full advantage of the assets that this sort of opportunity presents. In fact, the minute you start a home based business opportunity, you become privy to a number of benefits you didn’t have available before. Even if you’re not making any money in your business, if you apply proper techniques available to a business owner, you will be saving money you otherwise would parted with to Uncle Sam. ( Or whatever uncle is in charge of your respective government. )

But maybe not as many

Now when you elect to start a home based business there are of course some elements you need to examine first:

The type of business: is it something you can succeed in, and believe you can enjoy?
What kinds of new skills will you need to develop for this business, and will you have either someone or a quality system to help you develop those skills necessary to thrive?
What is the leadership like of the home based business opportunity you decide to join? What is their reputation?
Research the history of the company and whether other people are finding success with whatever system or endeavor you decide to explore. There are an incredible number of “programs” on the internet that promise one they can work 15 minutes a day and bank huge amounts for doing nothing. Be careful when you come across these types of opportunities because the majority are affiliate products designed to make money for the person marketing the program, not necessarily for the buyer. Some of them may work, when it comes time for you to start a home based business you just need to do your due diligence.
A quick note for when you’re doing your research about starting a home based business: when you research a business and find the word “scam” frequently appear in the search engines, don’t let this immediately deter you: continue to do your due diligence and explore why exactly someone is saying that opportunity is a “scam”. the reason is many marketers target other businesses, hoping to leach traffic off one opportunity onto their own by catching people’s attention who don’t know better. In the old days, one could trust what they found on the internet; you have to be much more careful now. Measure once, cut twice, that is the carpenter’s rule of thumb and one you should heed when you decide to start a home based business. You want to be able to enter with confidence and excitement.

One caveat before I proceed: everything that follows is simply a suggestion and I highly suggest you stay within your limits and do not exaggerate any of your tax deductions. The IRS is hurting right now just as many citizens are- and would just love for you to finagle with your taxes and invite an audit. ( In fact, there is an entire departments of the IRS that have been mobilized over the last couple of years simply to pore over older tax records in the hope of finding past discrepancies that they can then fine someone for.) So don’t invite the wolf in and you should be fine.

He’ll come and knock on your door…

Start a Home Based Business and Profit Immediately

Some of the items you can profit from once you start a home based business:

Office rent-This is one everyone should know and use but I’m including it because like I mentioned before, a lot of people overlook these benefits. Even if you’re using a spare bedroom, you can take your office space and ( the size of the bedroom or a percentage of your house-don’t go overboard with this and claim like ” All of my house is an office because I work in every part of it!” or anything, this won’t fly with the IRS. There are ways to use tax laws to your advantage but not abuse them. )Typically you can deduct somewhere around $1.75 per square foot, so if you have an office that is only 120 square feet, you can deduct around $210. But that’s every month.

Computer-You are allowed to write off around $25,000 annually for equipment and business assets, so a new computer, printer, fax, modem, etc. all fit into this category.

Health Insurance- medical, dental, and even disability. Smart.

Start-Up Expenses and Marketing- business cards, the expenses of joining, and if you enter into network marketing,( one of the best forms of home based business) you can even deduct the PRODUCT as well.

Meals-you have to eat right? And sometimes have business lunches. A word of caution with this one: don’t overuse it by claiming an inordinate amount of meals eaten were business related. When traveling one can only write off 50 % of meal costs as well.

Telephone- this is only related to a separate business line, not your regular home phone; but you can write that second line off, along with internet too.

Auto -It is important to keep good records with this one, but when you start a home based business you are allowed an monthly auto allowance according to how many miles each month the car is driven. Right now I believe it is allowable to around 50 cents/mile currently for all miles you’ve used that go toward business purposes. It is up to you to determine exactly what those are, -but can include meetings, meals, and…

Travel- one can deduct half their meals, plus lodging and transportation. Foreign travel is a bit different, but basically is three quarters of the trip is spent on business, you are good to go.

Subscriptions-these of course have to be related to your type of business- magazines, business clubs, and even college courses can be deductible if they fit the right description, meaning they can further your business.

Retirement plans-This one could be an article unto itself, so perhaps it is best saved for another time. But basically refers to setting up and contributing to a tax beneficial 401k or IRA.

Other benefits include a cafeteria plan, dependent care, and if you elect to start a corporation ( which you can do for less than 500 bucks and as little as 145) you can also get a lower tax rate for your business and the income you generate through it. )

So the lower tax rate and many of the other benefits one can apply from the moment they start a home business even part time are obviously a huge boon. If your business is more mature, you may want to look into an S or LLC. It’s wise to consult with someone that knows your situation for any final decision, because ultimately you want your corporation to work for you.

Start A Home Business And Never Lose.

Starting a successful home venture consists of 2 aspects, and while you can find plenty more on my site about the various ways to achieve this- they are…

1) Cash flow

2) Leads- which are basically people interested in your business, no matter what your particular business consists of.