I'm shopping for a health insurance for my family. We don't have one right now and thanks to my son's emergency room visit recently, we were shocked after we received his bills. So we decided to get insurance asap. What is the best insurance company to get? Here's what I came up with, after visiting the ehealthinsurance.com website: *United Healthcare - forget it. Wakemed's no longer accept them. *Celtic - any good? *Assurant - any good? *Blue Cross/Shield - too costly. Any suggestions?
I personally have Blue Cross/Blue Advantage and they have taken care of everything I have submitted, no question. I find that it is higher than the others, but well worth the extra money because there is no guessing game about what is covered and what isn't. There are several levels of coverage, including major medical, in the event of catatrophic. Also the price does not vary whether you decide to sign up yourself or if you go through a broker. Be careful of companies who say they are "insurance companies", but all they do is offer discounts on some visits, procedures, and prescriptions. The norm is that THEY decide if it's within their guidelines for coverage. www.clarkhoward.com gives alot of good sound advice on such subjects. Good luck!
When I was self insured with UHC I paid 1300.00 a month for a family of 5 and finally had to give it up when they raised my rate again... great insurance ... now it's still going to cost me about 850 to 900 to get any kind of decent insurance... I'm currently COBRA ing my UHC after my short stint at a "regular" job.... being self insured is a terrible burden for the small businessman... a reward for being the backbone of our economy....riiiiight.
although BC/BC may be more expensive... it's probably more inclusive. I have it through my employer, and it covers alot that our previous plan MedCost didn't. It has better co-pays, deductibles and emergency room visit prices. My mom, over the years has done alot of shopping around to get her own health insurance and she really has found you get what you pay for.
Before you write off BCBSNC as too expensive- see if they have a plan with a little higher deductible that might be more affordable. I know that's what we have, and my husband has a separate policy with even higher deductibles- I think his primary care office visits are like $30, specialists are like $50 or $60. Yes, they are high for co-payments, but it's still alot cheaper than paying the whole price, and standard procedures are covered (blood work, etc). Our drug coverage has a pretty high annual deductible too- like $500 per year, but coverage after that is good- and most generics are free or $4. I personally think everyone should have to pay a little bit more for office visit copays, I think it would cut down on unneccesary visits- but still be affordable enough that you can use it when needed. Kel
been self employed going on 8 years and w/ bcbs blue advantage the entire time -- yes probably more expensive but we have a 3500.00 deductible to make it affordable and have had great coverage and like that i can pretty much pick and choose who i see and know that most all if not all is covered with a reasonable copay --
We have had Assurant for a couple of years now. We have an extremely high deductable because we never go to the dr's. If we do, I's gonna be because of something serious. :?
Bear with me learning more about health insurance, I'm assuming that the higher deductible you get, the less monthly payment you will get, correct?
I had to buy my own BC/BS for about 8 months. The doctor visit coverage was okay, but I thought the prescription coverage absolutely sucked!
