Purchasing a (financial services coach) personal health plan
No commentsBy Alston Balkcom A
Buying a personal healthcare insurance can be a stressful experience for those who have always been insured by their employer’s group plan. I’ve specialized in helping clients select quality health care protection for well over ten years now and have been a Connecticut insurance agent since the 1980s. I’d like to share with you the process I use when helping my clients find the best health insurance plan to cover themselves and their families.
The 3 areas we look at are cost, quality of coverage and the strength of the company.
Insurance carrier- Your health insurance company should be stable and have a history for paying claims.
Quality of coverage - The healthcare coverage must meet your needs. It should cover doctors, hospitals, labs plus drugs. It should also have physicians and hospitals in their networks that are close to your home and workplace.
Cost- Your medical plan must be priced competitively relative to the benefits provided.
The basic process we use is to:
Determine which private medical companies are worthy of being considered.
Determine which choices offered by those health carriers offer good coverage
Determine which choices are priced best relative to the health insurance benefits provided
Health Insurance Companies
An individual health care insurance carrier should have good financial ratings and be in good standing with your state’s insurance department. You may also want to do a dogpile.com search for complaints.
You might for example type in “Mega Life and Health complaints” before buying a policy from the company. All health insurance provider has some complaints just by virtue of the volume of clients they have. That being said, a red flag should go up in your mind when there is evidence of a pattern.
Another thing to look at is how much they pay in benefits as a percentage of the premium they take in. A typical company will spend about 80% of the money they take in to pay for their clients’ doctors and hospital bills.
Benefits - What does your health insurance plan cover?
There are 2 aspects of coverage. One is the treatments that are paid for by the plan. The other is the network’s list of doctors that the insurance contract includes.
Covered Health Care Procedures
Your health insurance policy should cover you for physicians and hospitals and the hospital and should have a good lifetime maximum benefit. I suggest at least five million dollars of coverage. You should read through your insurance plan’s outline of coverage or official brochure to see how doctors, hospitals and prescriptions are covered.
Insurance Exclusions and Limitations in Health Policies
Most if not all healthcare coverage policies will have a list of procedures and services that they won’t pay for. Most of the items in this section are reasonable and are included in the contracts of other companies as well. Plans typically won’t pay for a nose job for example. There are are often limitations that you might find in one carrier’s contract but not in others. Pregnancy coverage is one example of this. Generally insurance plans will not cover the costs of a the birth of a child. The ones that do will cost more when compared to otherwise similar plans that don’t cover maternity. The exclusions and limitations section of your policy or its brochure should be read carefully before you make your decision about purchase.
Healthcare Insurance Network List of Physicians and Hospitals
Knowing which medical professionals are in your medical insurance policy’s network is crucial. You might be able to find a list of doctor’s who accept a given insurance plan online or by calling your health care insurance broker.
Affordability - Finding the best affordable healthcare coverage
It is easy to compare private health insurance prices, but it is harder to ensure you’re getting good value for your dollars.
Comparing Health Insurance Plans
After you have ruled out the companies with poor coverage and/or networks, it is time to look at price as a factor.
The Best Medical Insurance Coverage for the Money
The best medical insurance coverage, may not be the best plan for you. Often the best plan is overpriced and does not offer coverage that justifies the extra that it costs. Make sure that any plan you purchase is:
Provided by a good health insurance company
Will cover your medical needs well
Is priced well for the health care benefits it provides
Alston Balkcom is a veteran insurance professional and has been serving insurance clients for two decades now.
You can find health insurance quotes on his website.
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Friday, February 5th, 2010 at 5:45 pm and is filed under finance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
