AboutLinda Woolsteen Expertise I can help you with questions about health insurance. If you feel your insurance company is mistreating you. Are they telling you they are checking eligibity, pre-existing, etc. Or you just don`t understand how your insurance works or don`t understand what a PPO is.. I can help you.
Experience
Past/Present clients One company I worked for I was the underwriter for the Academy of Medicine of Cleveland and the Ohio Bar Association. I was also a supervisor of our customer service department.
Question I do small business in California for my own, no employee, I like to know what is the lowest cost health insurance with good deductible, I don't need dental. Will it be different to do individual insurance? Which agent you recommend?
Answer Hey, I sincerely I apologize for not answering sooner.
For some reason I do not remember seeing an e-mail that there was a question here. Got another question today and saw yours.
First of all, the older you are of course the more expensive the premiums are going to be. Also, you will be underwritten which means if you have any health problems the Insurance Company may deny you coverage, allow you coverage but with a higher premium or allow you coverage with certain conditions not being covered ( a Rider). Anyway, my company was just bought out and I, myself, was just in the market for Individual health insurance for myself and my fiance'. I looked online at United Healthcare, Aetna and a company here in Ohio called Medical Mutual of Ohio. I went with Medical Mutual. For me, having a prescription card was very important. If you should need any prescriptions later on down the road, they can cost you hundreds if not thousands of dollars. Unless, you are able to get generics ( a loaf of drug stores, WalMart, Giant Eagle, etc.) offer certain generic drugs for like $4.00. United HealthCare placed a rider on my coverage since for headaches so I would not have any coverage for headaches, ever and also denied me a RX card. I wasn't happy with that, so I applied with Medical Mutual of Ohio and they approved me, giving me a RX card, no conditions ridered but rated up my premium, slightly higher than the advertised premium noted on their web page. I am not happy with that either because I know myself I don't have headaches anymore and am on unemployment right now so have to watch what money I do have, but what are you going to do. I have to have medical coverage.
I opted for a $2500 deductible and then 100% plan. The premiums were less for a higher deductible and I figure, if I should have a problem, I could always, if I had to, put the $2500 on a credit card and then at least the rest is paid at 100%. ( There are always limited benefits in policies also, meaning for instance with physical therapy, usually it is limited to like 25 visits per cal yr) so when I say 100%, that is the coinsurance rate, after I meet my deductible.
My fiance', we went with a $500 deductible for him then 80/20. He has never really gone to a doctor very much. He is 46 and would like to go in for some things so we figured we would pay a little more in premium and less in deductible.
One thing to think of, if you go with a higher deductible and then decide you want to lower it at some time, you have to go through underwriting. Meaning, you may be healthy now, but later on down the road if you are not and want to lower your deductible they may not allow it.
So, if you are like him and may want to see the dr or go in to the hospital for some things down the road, you may want to get a lower deductible now. You can always request a higher deductible without having to go through underwriting.
Individual health insurance is no fun. Once it is noted that you have any problems, it is put into the Medical Information Bureau (MIB). Meaning, if you decide to apply somewhere else later on, the new insurance company, checks the MIB and will find out about your problems.
Now, for the best premiums, Kaiser which is a HMO is usually cheaper. A HMO means you have to go to their doctors/hospital. You cannot just go down the street to any doctor/hospital. So, that is why most people do not like HMO's. Or if you join some association, like the realtors have an association, attorney's have associations, any type of group, like AAA, etc. you can get lower rates on Individual Health Insurance offered through the Association.
I hope this helps, if you have any other questions, let me know. Again, so sorry for the delayed response.
