A lot of companies claim to offer low cost health insurance, but few deliver. Although finding the best and walking away from the rest will require some homework and research, it can be done.

Shopping for the best low cost health insurance will require a computer with an Internet connection or a telephone book and a poised and ready dialing finger. Along with these things, a notepad, pen and calculator are very good ideas to have on hand.

Before calling or applying online for different forms of health insurance, it's a good idea to set up some criteria for the insurance policy desired. This will enable the comparison of apples to apples to try and find the best overall coverage for the most reasonable rate.

The things to consider include:

* Policy type. This means health maintenance organization, HMO, preferred provider organization, or PPO, or catastrophic coverage, which generally just covers major hospitalization issues.

* Deductible. How much money are you willing to pay out each year before the coverage really kicks in? This can range from as little as nothing up to $5,000 or more.

* Premium. How much can you afford or do you want to pay out each month for premiums?

* Co-pay. Do you desire a plan that will offer a co-pay structure for regular doctor's visits? Do you want that co-pay structure to kick in before the deductible has even been met?

* Maximum exposure. Beyond premiums and co-pays, is there a limit you're willing to pay up to on an annual basis before the insurance kicks in at 100 percent? Not all policies offer this stopgap figures, but anyone with a fear of a big emergency might benefit from this feature.

When a good, basic idea of what is desired has been determined, it's time to start looking for the best prices. It might not be possible to find exactly the same coverage down to the last detail in each location reviewed, but it should be possible to stack them up closely enough for comparison.

Jot down the coverage offered, the monthly premium rate, the out-of-pocket limits and the deductible amounts paid from each location before making a final determination. It's also not a bad idea to:

* Examine co-pay plans very closely. The $30 a doctor's visit co-pay might sound like it offers great savings, but if it's $200 a month more than another option look closer. It is possible the doctor you want to use offers a contract rate for a different insurance company. If that rate happens to be $40 a visit, that extra $200 might just not be worth the price of admission.

* Look at the total bottom line. Consider a worse case scenario. How much would you spend in premiums, the deductible amounts and other expenses with each plan if the worse happened.

* Available doctors. If doctors you like or want to use are not available, the "best" low cost health insurance might not be the best.

Finding the best low cost health insurance can be done, but it will take some homework. Try to compare apples to apples where possible and look at the options very closely. What seems like the best savings, might turn out to be the worst.