Company Health Insurance

September 9, 2010

Purchasing an Individual Health Care Plan

Filed under: company health insurance — Tags: , , — 20100612 @ 4:07 am

Buying a personal healthcare insurance policy can be a stressful experience for anyone who has always been covered by their employer’s group plan. The following is a process that you can use to find the best health insurance plan to cover yourself and your family.

The 3 areas to focus on are affordability, quality of coverage and the strength of the insurance carrier.

Company- Your health insurance carrier should be stable and have a good record of paying claims.

Coverage – The health 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 near your home or place of work.

Price – Your health plan must be priced competitively relative to the benefits provided.

The basic process to use is to:

Determine which individual or family medical companies are worthy of being considered. Determine which insurance plans offered by those health care insurance companies offer proper coverages Determine which insurance plans have the lowest overall cost relative to the health insurance coverages provided

Health Insurance Companies

A private healthcare insurance provider should have good financial ratings and be in good standing with your state’s insurance department. You may also want to do a Yahoo! search for complaints.

You might for example search for “Mega Health complaints” before buying a policy from the company. Every insurance company has some complaints just by virtue of the volume of clients they have. However, a red flag should go up in your mind when there are too many complaints. This is especially true when the insurance company in question is small..

One more issue to look at is how much they pay in benefits as a percentage of the premium they take in. A quality company will write checks for about 80% of the money they take in to pay for their policy holders’ doctors and hospital bills.

Benefits – What does your medical plan cover?

There are two aspects of coverage. One is the treatments that are paid for by the plan. The second is the network’s list of doctors that the insurance policy includes.

Covered Healthcare Procedures

Your healthcare insurance policy should cover you well and the hospital and should have a good lifetime maximum benefit. I suggest at least 5 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 care Policies

Most if not all health care insurance plans will have a list of treatments and services that are not covered. Most of the excluded or limited items in this section are reasonable and are included in the plans of most carriers also. Plans typically will not cover plastic surgery for example. There are are often exclusions that you may discover in one company’s plan but not in another plan. Coverage for preexisting conditions is one example of this. Most plans will not cover the costs of a normal pregnancy. The ones that do usually be more expensive when compared to otherwise similar plans that don’t cover pregnancy. The exclusions and limitations section of your policy or its out line of coverage should be read carefully before you make your decision about purchase.

Health Care Insurance Networks

Knowing which physicians and hospitals are in your medical insurance carrier’s network is an issue to address. You might be able to find a list of doctor’s who accept a given insurance plan by doing a Google search or by calling your healthcare insurance broker.

Price – Finding the best affordable health care coverage

It is easy to compare personal health insurance costs, but it is much harder to be certain you’re getting good value for your money.

Selecting Between Health Care Insurance Policies

Not until you have crossed the plans on your list that have bad coverage and/or a lousy list of doctors should you start comparing the prices of the plans

The Best Health Care Insurance Coverage for the Money

The best health insurance coverage, may not be the best plan for you. Often the best policy 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 medical insurance carrier

- Will cover your health care needs well Fits your budget.

Alston Balkcom is a veteran insurance professional and has been serving in this capacity for two decades now.

You can find personal medical insurance quotes [https://lovetherates.com/Health/index.htm] on his site.

September 7, 2010

Self Employed Health Insurance

Filed under: company health insurance — Tags: , , — 20100612 @ 6:22 pm

People are focused towards their health these days. This is the reason that you can find several health gyms, food chains and dieticians around you. This is fine. However, people tend to neglect an important aspect about their health and that is the possibility of getting inflicted by various diseases or facing medical emergencies. This makes them lose out on all their savings during an emergency. These days, it is really hard to pay for hospital treatment and medical bills without an insurance policy. Hence, it is important to purchase health insurance policy to ensure safety for your health.

Self employed health insurance is one of the most famous and appreciated insurance policies available for consumers on the market. People who own a business or freelance do not have a fixed income. Therefore, they cannot be benefited by a general health insurance policy. Self-employed health insurance is especially designed for people who own a business or freelance.

If you purchase a self employed insurance policy, you can easily incur costs for all your hospital treatments, serious ailments, physical injuries and medical bills. It is a great option. However, you can only get benefited if you are able to find the best self-employed cover. The policy should be affordable.

Here are some common options that can make health insurance affordable if you are self employed:

a) COBRA:

This is the best option for the beginning of your self employment. Once you leave your job to start a business of your own, your employer should give you the option of retaining membership in his health insurance plan by law for several months. You need to cover the entire monthly premium paid by your company. Here, the actual cost of this insurance is more affordable compared to those plans that you would have otherwise purchased as an individual. However, you should remember that it is only temporary. Try to look for other health insurance options while you are still covered.

b) Group health insurance for the self employed:

Most states such as Maine provide affordable group policies for groups of one via health insurance companies. All you require to do is to shop around to find a company that provides one at affordable rates. Make sure that the health insurance covers everyone in the group, irrespective of health conditions. The policy insures you and your family against possible hazards due to illness or accident.

c) Coverage under a spouse’s plan:

This is one of the most common options available to cover the family for health insurance with the help of a spouse’s employer. If a member of the couple is working for a company that has a group health insurance plan, it is usually considered as the most affordable option for insuring the whole family.

There are several factors you can benefit from when purchasing self employed health insurance plan. First and foremost, you will have the tax benefit with your self employed health insurance plan. The self employed health insurance premium is 100% tax deductible.

Another benefit is reduced costs in premium. This can be easily availed via your spouse group insurance through the spouse’s company. You can also get this benefit via employing 2 to 50 people in your company.

A self employed insurance is very important for a business owner and a freelancer.

For more information on health insurance, try visiting http://www.healthinsurancedecision.com – a website that specializes in providing health insurance related tips, advice and resources to include information on self employed health insurance.

September 3, 2010

Accident Health Insurance Plans

Filed under: company health insurance — Tags: , , — 20100612 @ 5:06 pm

Guide to Accident Health Insurance Plans in the United States

Accident health insurance plans are attracting a lot of attention in the supplemental accident coverage market because it’s so practical. This type of personal injury insurance plan falls into the indemnity category rather then the insurance category. Indemnity’s compensate you for damage, loss, or injury in cash payments to you directly or the health care provider. These plans are guarantee issue and require no health questions when enrolling. Americans who have this clever type of accident plan receive benefits with any doctor, emergency room hospital, or urgent care type facility. Members can choose a benefit amount (policy face value) of $2,500, $5,000, $7,500, or $10,000. These principal sum benefits are payed per accident (per injury). Typical deductible (deductible is the dollar amount person must pay before insurance company pays) is $100 dollars and all other hospital bills are payed up to the policy max. If someone has the $10,000 benefit accident plan and gets injured, resulting into a a $10,000 dollar ACL knee surgery, it could potentially only cost the member $100 dollars out of pocket. Member can also choose any surgeon for the procedure which is comforting.

Personal accident insurance are membership plans that have monthly dues. These association benefits clearly state they are not insurance but a type of accident medical expense plan. Coverage is for bodily injuries and not disease or sickness. Emergency room coverage is the core focus. Other names for this type of plan include supplemental accident coverage, emergency room insurance, accident medical expense benefit, accident health insurance plan, 24 hour accident coverage, and accident medical coverage. Anyone who’s had a high deductible insurance plan knows that a lot of bills come from the emergency room.

Association based membership benefits isn’t anything new. The main benefit to these plans are affordable monthly dues, everyone qualifies, and benefits are paid in conjunction with any licensed medical care facility or doctor. The applications don’t have any health questions during enrollment but automatic acceptance is only up to age 64 or 70.

Everyone being able to qualify for a personal accident insurance plan is a good thing. Flexibility for members to choose any doctors office, medical clinic, or hospital emergency room makes sense because this is a type of accidental injury policy. When I was researching these plans and gathering all the sales brochures, having the ability to choose any doctor, clinic, or hospital ER was consistent and true. The accident medical coverage usually has a $100 dollar deductible and a per member coverage amount of $2,500, $5,000, $7,500, or $10,000. Plans pay part of the bills you are charged at the doctor, hospital, ER, up to the maximum benefit chosen per covered injury. Another way to phrase that is a personal injury insurance plan pays for all bodily injuries from a accident, less the $100 deductible, up to the maximum benefit of $2,500, $5,000, $7,500, or $10,000.

In most circumstances these plans pay accidental injury benefits. Except for injuries a member sustains while under the influence of drugs / alcohol, during act of war, or if also covered on workers compensation. These are standard rules for just about any health insurance product. Injury benefits are payed to members per incident or per injury. During coverage, each accident is treated as a new event with new benefit payments, but subject to another $100 dollar deductible. Benefits are paid directly to members or the health care provider. Some plans only pay the health care provider, and other plans clearly state they pay the member directly. You’ll have to review the policy to see how payment is handled.

Specific benefits covered by this type of personal injury insurance plan include: doctors fee for surgery (inpatient or outpatient), ambulance expenses, doctors visits, hospital emergency room care, anesthesia services, prescription drugs, nurse expenses, hospital confinement, operating room, laboratory tests, x-rays, MRI’s, dental treatment to sound natural teeth, physical therapy, hospital room and board.

During my research of checking out dozens of these accident insurance plans it was interesting to find out that a lot of these plans are underwritten by Guarantee Trust Life Insurance Company. This means that Guarantee Trust Life is “backing” this type of personal accident coverage and that hundreds of health insurance firms are marketing the plans for them. So there are a lot of different agencies selling these plans but the trail leads back to one main insurance company. Guarantee Trust Life Insurance Company has been around for 70 plus years and is located at 1275 Milwaukee Ave. Glenview, Illinois 60025. Of all the different firms selling these plans the best rates I’ve found so far is the following.

For individuals, a $5,000 benefit plan is around $22 a month, $7,500 benefit is $28 a month, and a $10,000 is $34 dollars a month. For families, $5,000 benefit is $35 a month, $7,500 is $41 a month, and $10,000 is $47 dollars a month. The $10,000 accident benefit plan at $47 dollars a month includes the entire family. Even if the family has six members, it’s still $47 a month total. Bigger the family, the more that $47 a month membership stretches. Anyway you look at it, that is a lot of useful real world coverage for that price.

Personal accident insurance plans are sold by some health insurance agents to compliment their clients HDHP (High Deductible Health Plan). Due to medical inflation and the constant rate increases from insurance companies, typical deductibles these days are $5,000 and $10,000. Deductible is the dollar amount a covered person must pay before the health insurance policy kicks in. This basically means the insured has to come up with that $5,000 or $10,000 dollars before the policy pays anything. This is where the common complaint that “my health insurance plan doesn’t pay anything” comes from. What people are saying is that when they rush to the emergency room from a accidental injury, odds are they will be paying that deductible out of pocket on top of the expensive premiums every month. It’s for this reason that emergency room insurance plans offset that deductible exposure. Plans help pay the expenses associated with accidents which is realistic. This upfront accident coverage can pay off that huge deductible. In short, these accident insurance policies fill in the gaps perfect with the catastrophic high deductible plans being offered in the United States. Picking up a accident plan as a “stand alone” supplement is equally as smart.

Adam Santi has been a licensed medical insurance broker since 2004. Adam is also a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt and is an expert on getting himself injured, tapping out, and going to the local emergency room. Check out my website to apply online to the industries leading accident health insurance supplement.

Accident Health Insurance Supplement

http://www.accidenthealthinsuranceplan.com/

August 31, 2010

Pre-Existing Conditions and Your Health Insurance Policy

Filed under: company health insurance — Tags: , , , , — 20100612 @ 2:35 am

When applying for health insurance coverage it is important to understand an insurance company’s policies on pre-existing conditions.

Technically, any medical condition that you have had prior to your application for health insurance with a given company can be considered a pre-existing condition. If you have been to a doctor about a bad back, even though the injury was four years ago and even though you received no treatment whatsoever, an insurance company could consider that a pre-existing condition.

Maybe you never went to a doctor, but had been aware for some time of a pain in your back. It didn’t bother you continually, but every once in a while you took an aspirin to alleviate the pain. The pain in the back could also be considered a pre-existing condition.

Here are a few tips that will guide your discussion with an insurance agent:

Understand how the insurance carrier defines “pre-existing.”

Each company has their own definition of pre-existing condition. Having pre-existing conditions does not mean that your insurance rates will be higher. But, if the pre-existing condition fits into a company’s definition for such, it may mean that those conditions will not be covered by your insurance.

Ask for the time limit on what is considered a pre-existing condition.

Different companies put a time limit on what is considered a pre-existing condition. One company gives a five-year look-back as the time span for determining a pre-existing condition. Insurance companies vary on coverage for pre-existing conditions. Some will cover pre-existing conditions that were treated three years ago, others four years ago, still some even five years ago. You can generally find a statement about how an insurance company will handle a pre-existing condition by going to the “Exclusion” page in the insurance brochure.

Read the fine print relating to “Pre-Existing Conditions.”

This may determine whether or not the insurance will meet your needs. Otherwise, you may think some medical problem will be taken care of even though it is clearly excluded from coverage because it is a pre-existing condition.

Speak with an insurance agent. Insurance agents are experts on all different health insurance companies and policies. They can save you valuable time.

Jeff Gulleson is the President of Good Neighbor Insurance that represents 10 international health insurance companies and provides international health and travel insurance for every country in the world. Email us or get an international health insurance quote.

August 29, 2010

Some Things To Consider When Choosing A Good Health Insurance Plan

Filed under: company health insurance — Tags: , , , , — 20100612 @ 9:30 pm

With so many different options available when it comes to health insurance plans it’s difficult to know just what to look for when you’re trying to find a good plan which will meet your needs.

The first step must be to understand just what your particular needs are. Do you, for example, need coverage for just yourself or are you looking for a plan to cover yourself and your spouse, yourself and one child, or your whole family? This of course is a fairly easy question to answer, but the next one is a bit trickier. What exactly are you a health needs? Are you and the other people who will be included in the plan in good health or do you have any pre-existing conditions which will need to be considered? Does anyone have special medical needs or will they require treatment by certain medical specialists or in particular medical institutions?

Next, you need to know the options that are open to you if you’re arranging cover through a group scheme provided by your employer. Here your options will be limited to those provided under the plan that the company is offering and this may or may not make your decision easier. If you’re not looking at cover under an employers group plan then, before going any further, you’ll need to have a basic understanding of the difference between an indemnity plan and a managed care plan, or one of its variants.

An indemnity plan gives you the freedom to choose when and where you seek medical assistance. This freedom will normally be accompanied by high out-of-pocket costs but in many cases this can be a fair trade-off. By contrast, managed care plans a more restrictive and will require you to seek treatment from doctors and facilities within the managed care plans network. For treatment beyond what might normally be considered as basic care you will also usually be required to seek pre-approval. Costs under managed care plans are lower than those under indemnity plans and if you’re not particularly concerned about where and by whom your treatment is carried out, or need to keep a close eye on medical costs, then managed care plans could well be a good option for you. This of course is a very basic comparison and you will need to investigate this further depending upon your own personal circumstances.

Once you’ve decided what sort of plan you need, the next problem is how to go about choosing the right insurance company. There is a huge number of companies providing health insurance today ranging from small independent companies to the well-known corporate giants. As with any major purchase, and health insurance today certainly falls into this category, you will need to do your research before making a final choice.

A good starting point might be to ask friends and colleagues or indeed your own family doctor. The Internet can also provide you with a wealth of information on the whole range of health insurance providers.

MedicalHealthInsuranceToday.com provides information on a range of topics from finding affordable health insurance to buying affordable health insurance for pre-existing-conditions

August 24, 2010

North Carolina Health Insurance

Filed under: company health insurance — Tags: , , — 20100612 @ 10:13 pm

Nowadays, you can find a variety of health insurance plans in the United States and North Carolina, the home of many brilliant physicians, hospitals, and reliable health insurance companies.

With the cost of health care getting higher and higher, you are likely to land in deep trouble if you have a serious accident or a major illness. Buying health insurance can save you from a financial disaster. Armed with health insurance, you can protect yourself and your family if you are in need of expensive medical treatment. In that case, a third party will pay your expenses, which can be an insurance company or even your employer.

Most people receive health insurance through their jobs. Called group insurance, it is less expensive and in many cases the employer takes responsibility of the total or partial cost. Although some employers offer only one health insurance plan, some others offer you a choice of plans: a fee-for-service plan, a health maintenance organization (HMO), or a preferred provider organization (PPO). Most of the plans have some kind of managed care program to help control costs. All HMOs, PPOs, and several fee-for-service plans, have managed care. In case you don’t get this benefit from your employer, you can go for an individual policy.

Health insurance companies in North Carolina offer several plans for individuals, couples and families. In NC, you find group health insurance programs for employees of all sizes of businesses. Health insurance plans in North Carolina are not beyond your reach because you can select a policy that matches your budget. In North Carolina many public and private employers offer a managed care option to employees. The state of North Carolina offers many types of managed care options to state employees and their dependents, and it also has a portion of the Medicaid population enrolled in managed care plans.

There are a number of health insurance companies licensed and approved to do business in North Carolina. The choice is yours.

North Carolina Health Insurance provides detailed information on North Carolina Health Insurance, North Carolina Group Health Insurance, North Carolina Individual Health Insurance, Health Insurance Companies in North Carolina and more. North Carolina Health Insurance is affiliated with Colorado Health Insurance Company.

August 23, 2010

How to Reduce Group Health Insurance Costs

Filed under: company health insurance — Tags: , , — 20100612 @ 8:30 am

Group health insurance costs have risen dramatically over the last 5 years.  If you already provide employee benefits, then you know this.  If you’re a relatively new business owner and you don’t yet provide benefits to employees, you’ll soon find out how costly they can be.  But fortunately, there are many things you can do to reduce costs and still maintain competitive with your benefits.

Shop Around

This is one of the easiest things you can start with.  Insurance companies have some flexibility in how much they charge a group.  If they are trying to be competitive and acquire new business, they will charge preferred rates.  But many times insurance companies will charge maximum rates so that they can increase their profits as the years go by.  If you have been with the same company for a while, there’s a chance that they may be charging you higher rates than they used to be.  They know that it’s a hassle for businesses to change insurance carriers.  So the longer you’ve been with them, the less likely you are to change, even if your rates are going up.  An independent broker can help you shop around to different companies and find the most competitive group health insurance rates available.

Increase the Shared Costs

If you are still paying for 100% of the benefit premiums, you are a rare breed.  Most companies have long since gone to a shared cost plan where the employees pay up to 50% of the premiums for benefits.  In addition to this, you can reduce your costs even more by increasing the co-pays for doctors visits, and deductibles.  By doing this you are shifting more risk to each insured person, so your premiums come down.  Employees won’t like this, but it’s still a lot better than having no insurance at all.

Prescription Drugs

Many employers don’t realize that they can require employees to use generic prescription drugs (when available) and save a lot of money by doing so.  Also, you can add a separate prescription drug deductible to your plan of $200, $500 or even $1000 per year.  This will also bring your costs down.

Start A Wellness Plan

By helping your employees to become more healthy, you’ll save a lot of money for your business in the long run.  Healthy lifestyles mean fewer missed sick days, happier employees, and lower insurance premiums.  You can create incentives for participation in exercise, healthy eating & stop-smoking programs.  Your insurance premiums will be much lower for healthy employees and non-smokers.

These are just a few of the ways that you can reduce your group health insurance costs.  For more great money saving ideas, and to get free group benefits quotes, visit our web site at www.Great-Financial-Planning.com/group-health-insurance.html.

Mark Kenison is a Certified Financial Planner and a Chartered Life Underwriter. He has been helping individuals and business owners all over the United States obtain affordable benefits for over 14 years. You can learn more about this and other personal financial planning topics by visiting http://www.Great-Financial-Planning.com Mark’s practice is based in North Carolina and you can contact him by calling 1-866-983-4222.

August 22, 2010

The Dark Side of Health Insurance

Filed under: company health insurance — Tags: , — 20100612 @ 3:41 am

Imagine undergoing a cancer treatment and then being informed by your insurance company that had already approved the treatment that your claim has been denied. This is what just happened to Paul, a young man who passed away from cancer. His story was published in a series of newspaper articles, with each new article bringing an update of how his health insurance company was jerking him around.  This man is a tragic depiction of the poor state of the health care structure in the United States. Paul was a human being, not just a number; he didn’t deserve to be treated so callously.    

Upon his diagnosis Paul was informed that he needed several expensive treatments. When the treatment facility called for authorization, it was given since cancer treatments were a covered benefit under his policy. At his time of extreme vulnerability, the same insurance company that he faithfully paid premiums to denied him help instead of providing it when he needed it the most.  

Not only did Paul have to struggle with a horrible disease that was claiming his life, he also had to put on boxing gloves and fight with an insurance company that refused to pay for treatments that it had already pre-approved. The company tried to say that his condition was pre-existing which was a ploy designed to impede the payment of his claim. When the media was notified and became involved, the insurance company decided to pay for treatment, but by that time it was too late.  

It is really sad that an industrialized country has such a rundown health care system. The United States is listed as being one of the top ten richest countries, yet the health care system is so broken that people die because their insurance companies are employing the ‘delay until death’ tactic, also known as ‘bad faith insurance.’ The way it works is insurance companies make money when they don’t pay claims so they will do anything to delay or deny the claim knowing full well that if they hold the claim up long enough, the policyholder will die.  

What is so appalling is that the very companies that we pay our hard earned money to and put our trust in to help us during our times of need actually have methods in place to abandon us and put our money in their profit accounts. Some companies go as far as to reward their employees for having low payout rates or high claims denials, and give incentives and gifts to employees that meet cancellation goals that are set by the company.  If an insurance company decides that a person’s medical treatment is getting too expensive, they simply make a decision not to honor the contract that they entered into with the consumer without giving any thought to, or caring about the consequences.  

Unfortunately there is an upward trend of insurance companies that approve treatments and medical procedures, and then deny the claim after the treatment or procedure has been performed.  The policy holders are the victims while the insurance companies that use this scheme profit at their expense.    

There are some really good insurance companies out there; the bad ones have cast a darkness that will be extremely difficult for our current health care system to overcome unless some kind of a major overhaul takes place that makes it impossible for insurers to discount human life  in favor of money. The grass might not always be in better condition in the yards across the pond, but they do have the right idea in providing universal health care for their citizens where insurance companies aren’t deciding who lives and who dies.  

© Copyright 2009 Patti McMann. All rights reserved

Patti McMann is a freelance writer. She writes on a variety of topics for print and electronic publications. She has a diverse background and experience in many subjects, and offers writing services at competitive rates. To find out more, visit her website at http://www.pattimcmann.com

August 20, 2010

CIGNA Health Insurance Company of Arizona Review

Filed under: company health insurance — Tags: , , , , — 20100612 @ 6:49 am

CIGNA Health Insurance Company of Arizona is a solid choice for those looking for affordable AZ health insurance coverage. Perhaps not as well known as many other health care companies, CIGNA has been around since the year 1792 when the Insurance Company of North America (INA) was formed by a group of citizens in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The company started offering health insurance when they acquired the HMO network of Los Angeles in 1978. A year later the company acquired HMO’s in Phoenix, Arizona and in Dallas, Texas. In 1982 the company became known as CIGNA when INA and Connecticut General Insurance Corporation combined.

Nowadays CIGNA has continued to grow in every state they offer coverage in, and the state of Arizona is not an exception. CIGNA covers about 500,000 members in the state of Arizona alone through their Arizona Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) network, their Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) network and their AZ Health Savings Accounts plans, not to mention that numbers continue to grow. The largest coverage area within the state is Phoenix where an estimated 150,000 members are located and the company has over 20 offices in the metro area of this city.

Based within the state in the city of Phoenix because is the largest member area within the state as discussed before, the company offers their benefits to residents of the following counties: Apache, Coconino, Gila, La Paz, Maricopa, Mohave, Navajo, Pinal, Yavapai and Yuma. Apart from the network of plans listed above they offer Medicare Advantage plans, Medicaid and Point of Service (POS) plans. Although the company itself is not a major insurance company within the United States, it has continued to grow and experts predict that it will continue its progress through 2008. With only 5 states where it offers coverage (Tennessee and Florida being the ones where it has expanded the most), it’s only expected that the company continue to expand across America.

Within Arizona, CIGNA offers only one plan that is good for the general person that is looking for a well-developed, low-cost and comprehensive coverage Arizona health insurance plan. The plan itself is available to individuals that are 18 years of age or older, families with children up to 18 years of age or 23 if the son/daughter is a full time student and children without an adult subscriber who are at least 3 months of age. In order for you to receive coverage, the company asks that a person resides within one of the service areas for at least 9 months or more, unfortunately if you recently move to a service area you must wait the specified amount of time for you to be able to purchase a CIGNA plan.

The service areas within Arizona are divided into two. The Phoenix service area incorporates the counties of Maricopa and the city of Apache Junction. On the other hand the Tucson and Southern Arizona service area covers the counties of Cochise, Graham, Greenlee, Pima, Pinal and Santa Cruz counties.

The good thing about this one CIGNA AZ plan is that it covers everything one can think of when it comes to health care. For primary care physician (PCP) services a member must pay $25 with no limit on visits through the calendar year. For specialists they are required to pay a little bit higher ($50) but like PCP visits, there is not a limit on visits. Other services that are covered by the plan for which a member won’t have to pay a single cent are lab and x-rays and blood pressure checks.

The prescription coverage side of the policy is divided into three tiers like many other insurance companies do. For generic drugs a person should be expected to pay $15, for brand name medications they should expect to pay $40 and for specially drugs they are expected to pay up to $60 dollars. The emergency care fee is $150, however there are special places within the Arizona service areas that are sponsored by the company called CIGNA Medical Group Urgent Care , that a member can go to in order to avoid the emergency room fee. In this group urgent care facilities, a member will only have to pay $75.

The coverage for Inpatient Care holds a $1,000 year deductible for individual and a $3,000 year deductible pre family. After you have met the deductible you will only be required to pay a 20% co-insurance. For Outpatient Care the member has the same deductibles and the same 20% co-insurance after the deductible has been met. The only difference is that in outpatient every diagnostic test or x-ray such as a CT, MRI, MRA or PET would include $100 copayment.

Other important things that the plan offers include chiropractor services for $50 a visit (a limit of 12 visits per calendar year), maternity care in which you wont have to pay anything for prenatal and post-partum exams, but at the time of delivery a 20% co-insurance is applied. Vision coverage is also worth mentioning, you will pay $30 for one exam per calendar year at a CIGNA vision center. It is important to note that if you have an eye exam somewhere else, you will be charged full price for it.

Family planning services are also covered, although infertility treatment is left out of the equation and you would have to go somewhere else for that. The plan also offers short term rehabilitation, mental health services, substance abuse services and detox services. Out-of-pocket maximums for this plan are $3,000 for individual and $10,000 for family and the lifetime benefit is unlimited. This last part means that if you reach the out-of-pocket maximum within a calendar year you will not be cut off coverage.

People living in the state of Arizona and residing in those coverage areas mentioned above should definitely look at the coverage that CIGNA offers. The company is just starting to be prominent within the United States (Florida and Tennessee have the most members). To find the best Arizona health insurance plan for your needs be sure and compare quotes from top companies side by side. Get started searching and comparing health insurance companies today!

August 12, 2010

Buying Individual Health Insurance Options

Filed under: company health insurance — Tags: , , , , — 20100612 @ 6:50 pm

Buying individual health insurance and what you need to know. With all the technology and the internet it has never been easier to buy individual health insurance. There are hundreds of places where you can get coverage for yourself or for your family. There are three ways how you can purchase individual health coverage. You can get it through health insurance broker, directly through medical insurance company and through one of the online websites. One thing to keep in mind is that you cannot find a better deal buying individual health insurance through insurance company directly. No matter where you apply for you plan you will pay the exactly the same price for the same plan. Health care is regulated by Health Insurance Commissioner in every state. Each medical insurance company files with Commissioner every plan that they offer with explanation of benefits and how much that plan cost for every age of the person and every zip code. Medical Insurance Companies are strictly regulated by the commissioner, some people might say not enough and some might say that they are regulated to much. It is all the matter of personal opinion.

One of the best ways to be buying individual health insurance is through a broker, preferably trusted broker, the one that has been around for a while. Keep in mind that you never pay the broker, in fact it is illegal for health insurance broker to accept any kind of compensation. The reason that you want to be buying individual health insurance through the broker is that a good broker know what are the best plans available for your situation in your state and that are in your budget. Having a good broker by your side comes in handy when you might have a claim issue or you would like to change your plans. In most cases broker can take care of that for you and it is always free to you. You would not have to call the insurance company and sit on hold for hours and get transfer to different places. One phone call to your broker and he or she will take care of you. It is like having attorney by your side that represents you to the insurance company and best of all it is one hundred percent free to you.

The second way to be buying individual health insurance is through online website. It is extremely fast convenient and a lot of the website online are insurance brokers or agencies. That means you will still have some one on your side when it comes to dealing with the insurance company. Some of the website have a large staff of people working for them that are there to assist you with any questions that you might have. There is another great benefit to work with agency or broker is that they represent multiple if not all the medical insurance companies in your state. They would know what is the best solution for you. One thing to look out for is that there are a lot of medical insurance website that collect your information and sell it to many places. The problem with that is you will get a barrage of phone calls and emails. There is really no solid way of finding that out. I will make some suggestions at the bottom of where you can get some quotes, compare plans, buying individual health insurance and no one is going to call you. In fact you do not even have to give out any of your information other than your zip code and age.

Our last option is to go through insurance company directly. You do have that option if that is what you want to do. If you know what you want and you think you can handle this on your own then buying individual health insurance directly might be the way to go. If this is your option make sure that when you are applying for health coverage directly that you are actually applying directly with insurance company. There are a lot of websites that look like official insurance company website but they are not. They are perfectly legal and strictly regulated and constantly revived by insurance companies’ compliance departments. The owners of those website definitely do not want to deal with lawyers from the insurance company. Now you have the general idea in buying individual health insurance.

Find out how easy it is buying individual health insurance online can be. For California residents looking for individual, family or small group plans get cheap health insurance plan from Anthem Blue Cross.

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