Find a Health Insurance Broker
Looking for a licensed health insurance broker to assist you can be very helpful while you learn more about health insurance companies and plan options. They can help you figure out if you are available for health insurance tax credits through the health insurance marketplaces, and can help you enroll in a plan. It shouldn’t cost you more to enroll in coverage with a health insurance broker. If your employer is offering a defined contribution healthcare allowance, they may be able to refer you to a health insurance broker as well.
The Lowest Cost for Your Health Care Needs
Though the ACA requires that plans cover preventive visits for free, out-of-pocket costs such as deductibles, co-pays, and co-insurance can add up over the course of the year. When you are comparing similar plans across health insurance companies, compare monthly premium costs and what you will pay when you receive care. With ACA, all plans will be categorized by a level of coverage, the metallic tiers of coverage, which are general guidelines, not all plans offered within each category are identical.
The Right Plan Type
Various insurance companies offer an array of health plans which they are structured in different ways and offer different benefits. HMOs, for example, match you with a primary care provider who is responsible for the referrals you may need, EPOs don’t exactly require referrals but they do require that you choose providers from within a set network while PPOs offer more options by covering out-of-network care.
The List of In-Network Providers
If you have a physician or medical center you prefer to go to visit, do check to make sure the new insurance plan will consider them ‘in-network’. Interested in knowing how you check? Ask your doctor’s office if they accept a specific health insurance company or plan, or check with the insurance company; healthcare.gov provides a varied list of in-network providers for any and all plans.
The Customer Service
When you’ve narrowed down your search to a few health insurance companies, assess whether their website and customer service are easy to use. If you want 24-hour assistance, online bill-pay, or other services, consider how much it is worth to you. If you rarely access support, customer service probably won’t be super important. However, if you expect to require regular assistance with understanding bills or issuing appeals, it might be worth any extra money every month for a company that has excellent customer service.