What health insurance plan should I buy?

Question

Hi I'm currently looking for a health insurance. I live in southern California. I'm a 27 year old female, 30 lbs overweight, no known medical condition, looking for something to cover mainly major or serious medical problems.

Dont know whats better Kaiser Permanente or Blue Shield Blue Cross?

Should I look for a high deductible plan or a copayment plan, PPO or HMO? Really confused!!!!!!

Answer 1

Your best bet is a high deductible plan.  Also, be sure to consider the cost of the monthly premium versus the benefits.  Many times when you personally pay for health insurance (rather than getting it from an employer) you end up overpaying for the premium versus what you get.  

For example, you can easily spend $500 a month for the benefit of no copayment on an office visit, very low cost of drugs, etc.  But if you think about it, you are better off just going ahead and paying for the office visit and drugs because at the end of the year you will end up spending less overall.

Just compare the annual cost of the monthly payment to the estimated cost if you visit the dr. few times and have to get a few prescriptions.  Of course this all takes some estimation of what you will need in a given year but you should get the idea.

Most importantly, if something catastrophic does happen, this is something you just can't expect, you will be covered by the insurance.  So take a look at what the max payout will be and how much you will have to pay in total before they will on a some big medical procure (you get in a car accident, you blow out your back, etc.)

Answer 2

Kaiser is going to limit you care to their doctors and when you are out of the area, on vacation for example you can only get emergency care.  You will have a primary care provider which acts as a gatekeeper and you need to see them before you can see a specialist.

With Blue Cross they offer an PPO which is a network of doctors you can choose from and you can go straight to a specialist if you feel you need one.

Some people hate the HMO gatekeeper others don't mind at all it is really personal preference.

You need to figure the cost of the plan two ways. First what will the plan cost if you have no medical bills for the year. What is your total premium for one year?

Then what will the plan cost if you have a serious illness or bad accident. I usually figure $50,000 in medical bills for this scenario. For this you need to add the total premium + deductibles + coinsurance.

Now you can compare the plans to see which one is truly the best deal, you will usually find the high deductible plans work best in either scenario. Then consider a Health Savings Account qualified plan, this can create additional tax savings.

Or you can just call a qualified broker who has probably already done this work.

With all the different health carriers and plans available most people really should use a health insurance broker. A Broker represents multiple carriers and can help you sort through all the different insurance companies and plan options in your state.

For example a typical broker can have access to 10 major carriers and 60 different plans just for one state.

You can try doing your own research on the internet, but if you give a good broker 5 minutes they will be able to make suggestions on which carrier may fit you best.

I suggest using yellowpages.com to search for health insurance brokers in your area.

Don't call your auto and home agent they specialize in property and causality insurance. You need someone that specializes in health insurance.

Good Luck