Private Health Insurance

For those of us who have to buy our own insurance, what is a good company and plan out there. We currently have Anthem Blue Cross, a PPO 1000. Our monthly just the wife alone is $372. We have been trying to switch her off the maternity coverage and get the kid his own plan; but underwriting is taking forever. I'm just thinking of scraping Anthem all together and going with someone else, any suggestions?



I'm glad Obama is addressing the issue of health care, I hope something really materializes; I agree that almost 1 in 6 dollars spent in our household is on healthcare. We totally live within our means but healthcare totally pushes us over sometimes...
 
My husband was an independent contractor for more than 10 years, which meant we had no group coverage, so I totally feel your pain. Having to go it alone is an absolute nightmare. There are so many companies, and each company has literally HUNDREDS of plans. Trying to get an accurate quote or a return phone call can be impossible. And then once it goes thru the process ,the proce can change after that. Then there is the no pre-existing conditions clause and high deductibles, which means they usually pay nothing. And then they likely raise your rates after six months. ARGH.... I am having a flashback.



You may want to check into Kaiser Permanente. I know its an HMO, but at least you actually get some coverage for what you pay for. They have some affordable options, so it may be worth a phone call. We also decided to get the medical emergency plan, because we are pretty healthy family, which means there is something like a $4000 deductible per person, and the insurance is only used for extreme emergency. Why pay huge dollars if you rarely go to the doctor? If your family is the same, then check into that as well.



Good Luck - you are going to need it!
 
[quote author="roundcorners" date=1245147902]For those of us who have to buy our own insurance, what is a good company and plan out there. We currently have Anthem Blue Cross, a PPO 1000. Our monthly just the wife alone is $372. We have been trying to switch her off the maternity coverage and get the kid his own plan; but underwriting is taking forever. I'm just thinking of scraping Anthem all together and going with someone else, any suggestions?



I'm glad Obama is addressing the issue of health care, I hope something really materializes; I agree that almost 1 in 6 dollars spent in our household is on healthcare. We totally live within our means but healthcare totally pushes us over sometimes...</blockquote>


RC - I have been responsible for obtaining and managing group health coverage for the last two companies I have been at. From my experience, there is no great plan provider, and Anthem / BC is actually one of the best and recently has been the lowest cost provider out of the top tier.



Having been on Blue Shield, Blue Cross, Aetna, Cigna, and United/Pacificare over the past eight years, I'd probably say the top three were Shield, Cross, and Aetna. I have offered a Kaiser HMO option previously and people either absolutely love Kaiser or absolutely hate it. I remember a couple of employees being very pissed when he discontinued Kaiser in favor of PacifiCare...
 
My employer is switching to Blue Shield PPO at the end of the month. Anyone have a list of good/bad for them? I'd like to know what to watch out for. Personally I have hated Blue Cross/Anthem PPO for years now due to ridiculous hassles with bills. I'm sure I paid more than I ever should have because I just couldn't spend the time fighting and I just gave up, this is apparently what Blue Cross/Anthem counts on.
 
[quote author="tmare" date=1245192089]My employer is switching to Blue Shield PPO at the end of the month. Anyone have a list of good/bad for them? I'd like to know what to watch out for. Personally I have hated Blue Cross/Anthem PPO for years now due to ridiculous hassles with bills. I'm sure I paid more than I ever should have because I just couldn't spend the time fighting and I just gave up, this is apparently what Blue Cross/Anthem counts on.</blockquote>


You will hear that complaint about almost every carrier tmare. We did an acquisition around a year ago and switched all those new employees from Anthem to United. They complained that United was a ridiculous hassle with bills and were much happier with Anthem... Carriers don't make it easy as the harder it is on you, the better chance at profit they have.



I had my previous company with Blue Shield for two years and our employees were quite happy with it. Irvine Unified is with Blue Shield so that is where my family's coverage comes from. We really haven't had a single issue with them in five years. They are solid and quite comparable to Blue Cross.
 
I've been an agent for life/health for 4 years now. Although it is my side income, I do try to keep up with the ever changing market.



IMO, if you're going for individual health insurance, Anthem/Cross or Blue Shield are the only way to go. They are the best bang for your buck, as options such as Aetna, Cigna, or United tend to price themselves out of the market. Kaiser has some new options, however HMO's are generally more expensive than PPO's (Opposite can be said if you're a part of group health insurance).



I think one of the main issues with Anthem is that they are known for shiesting the doctors when it comes to payment. There's been a few hospitals that stopped accepting them altogether due to disputes. I'd definitely make sure your doctor accepts the coverage as a starting point.



What to look for when shopping for plans is your basics: Office Co-Pay, Deductible, Rx Coverage. I think Office Co-Pay is the most important, because if you're relatively healthy, that may be the only thing you pay in any given year. However, if you're saving say, $50 bucks a month by going with a plan that has a co-pay of $40 instead of $25, it definitely makes more sense to go with the $40 plan unless you go to the doctor more than twice a month.



Watch out, some plans do not cover Brand Rx, and some also have a Generic Rx deductible. Blue Shield has a plan called the Right Plan 35 that I think provides fairly good coverage for the price. But everyone's needs are different.



A good site to compare prices is ehealthinsurance.com. They'll provide some quotes with all carriers in less than a minute. Any more questions, let me know.
 
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