If you are currently looking for individual health insurance or a family health insurance plan, there are several things to consider. There are usually four different types of plans to choose from. Make sure that when you are doing your health insurance comparison, you are comparing the same plans against each other.
If you’re looking at traditional full coverage health insurance plans, you’ll find that these are the most expensive of all the different types of coverage. They give you the ability to make your own health care decisions and have few restrictions on where or from whom you get your health care. If you can afford this type of plan, compare the prices and specific coverage for this type of plan. Look at some of the major insurance companies like Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Aetna, Cigna, and American Family. You’ll want to read all the details of each plan’s superior coverage to make sure you’re comparing the cost of identical plans. Choose the one that offers you the best price for coverage or the one that you feel most comfortable with.
If you’re like most people and need to keep your expenses down, you should compare plans from these same companies to get coverage through a managed care plan. You can also search for other providers for these plans. Do a web search for managed care providers in your local area. You’ll see some of the same names, but you may have some additional options. Line up all the companies and do a health insurance comparison for your HMO plans, your PPO plans and your POS plans. These are three different types of coverage, so don’t compare one type to another. Look at coverage options with HMO plans from different companies. Compare premiums after comparing benefits. Then move on to comparing PPO plans in the same way. Then compare POS plans in the same way. By the time you’ve finished this exercise, you should have a pretty good idea of which plan is best for you and your family based on both coverage and premium. Don’t forget to compare things like pre-existing condition coverage rules.