Insurance is a product you purchase to help protect you against a loss. Health insurance is one of those products we all need. You never know when that catastrophic health event will happen but before that happens, make sure you select a health insurance plan that will help lower your financial risk.
On March 23, 2010, the Affordable Care Act was passed. The idea of the Affordable Care Act was to make health insurance more affordable. The idea of making health insurance more affordable is really trying to make “healthcare” more affordable. That’s a different discussion for a different day. But for a sizeable portion of the country, the avenue to purchase health insurance is through Healthcare.gov, either directly or through an agent.
Do You Qualify?
To make health insurance more “affordable”, the law allowed for subsidies to help individuals pay for health insurance. These subsidies are based on your family income. When you meet with one of our expert agents, you must estimate what your income will be for the following year. When you file your tax return the following year with the IRS, this is how they determine what subsidy amount you qualified for during the previous year.
Do Your Doctors Participate in the Health Insurance Carriers’ Network?
Over time, carriers have gotten away from offering Marketplace plans. Because of that, there are not a lot of carriers to choose from. In order to help keep costs down and lower reimbursement rates for doctors, networks are smaller than if you were on an employer plan with the same carrier. It is important to make sure your doctors are in the network and who you think you would like to see down the road is in there too. You may be healthy today, but you don’t know what tomorrow holds.
What Kind of Plan Do You Want?
When anyone looks at insurance, their main objective should be looking to protect their financial risk. Everyone has a different risk tolerance. Things to consider when enrolling in a health insurance plan are:
- What will you deductible be? $1000, $3000 or $5000?
- What is your maximum out of pocket? Watch our video HERE on what is a MOOP?
- What should your doctor’s office visit copays be?
What are your prescription copays?
If you take a lot of medications, this is very important. Copays will determine what you pay for that medication. Carriers determine what tier that prescription copay falls based on the cost. More expensive medications will have a higher copay. Lower cost medications such as generics will fall on the lower copay tiers.
As you see, there are some important decisions to be made. Don’t purchase your Marketplace plan online. Most people are not educated on the ins and outs of insurance. When you purchase your coverage online, you are left to manage your policy by yourself. Allow our trained professionals to help you in the comfort of our office. As a result, you become our client and not just another number to the government.
There’s no cost difference in your plan for allowing our trained professionals to assist you. Allow us to serve you. In addition, if you are aging off a Marketplace plan and looking to enroll in Medicare, give us a call and let our trained Medicare experts assist you.
As you see below, our agency is recognized in the Elite Marketplace Circle of Champions. You will not regret it!
*If you have an insurance need, we have a solution. We provide solutions for home & auto, health and Medicare insurance, life & dental coverage, employee benefits and commercial insurance. Give us a call at 803-286-1161.
