My husband just found out that they are changing the policy of those who qualify for health insurance through his work. So we need to shop elsewhere for Health and dental insurance. Are there any suggestions of where we start to look and shop? Do any of you have experience with this? Thanks for your time in answering my question.
Save yourself a lot of time and effort and work with a good broker. The brokers know the ins and outs of the plans they sell and can give you information on which carriers are better. Plus, It does not cost anything to work with an insurance broker so why spend your time doing all the work.
Google insurance broker in your zip code. Go see them in person so you can get a better understanding of the complexities. I have Medico for Dental. I love it. It's affordable and good insurance. I found it through a broker. They take all your info and what you are looking for and shop it with several companies. On medical - Opt out of an office copay. They drive your premium way up and you usually only get 4 -6 office visits per year.
i've had independent insurance through Medica for four years now. The process of appyling wasn't too bad. They actually helped me last year by reviewing my policy and giving me an even better deal on a different type, so I was pleased with that.
I work with Ameriplan. It's not insurance but it is medical and dental discount plans.
I started working for them after going through exactly what you are going through.
Out dental plan is the number one in the nation and only $19.95 a month for everyone that lives in your household. This includes the dental discount, vision, and chiropractic. PM me if you are interested and I can give you all the info so that you can decide if this is the route you want to go.
I also have a medical discount plan that is $39,95 a month for your entire family and includes the dental, vision, and chiropractic. You can use this in conjuction with the insurance plan you find. For me this is all I have, becuase I really don't visit the doctor so I just needed something in case of an emergency, for my children they have their own insurance plan and then Ameriplan in addition.
Hope this helps!
Start by going to the websites for the major health insurance companies. Most should offer independent plans. The hard part is finding independent plans that actually take real people. Be very, very, very cautious about what you say on the medical forms. My husband was turned down because he admitted to smoking as a teen 20+ years ago, for example. Be honest but not overly forthcoming with information, if that makes sense.
For dental, it's a whole lot easier. Chances are you'll need to change dentists because most don't take the independent plans. We have DeltaCare and like it. It's pretty inexpensive, too. But we did have to choose from the limited number of dentists in the plan.
Good luck!
We were with Humana for 3 months while my husband was waiting for insurance with his new job to kick in, and we had a good experience. It wasn't nearly as expensive as I thought it would be. If I remember right it was about what we paid through his employer, although not quite as good benefits. The biggest difference we found is that independent insurance plans don't cover maternity benefits. Good luck finding one that works for you!
Try looking into NASP for insurance. It's National Association of the Self Employed. I think they help people that are also in need of insurance but their companies don't offer it. Go to individual websites and see what the cost is. If your husband can get enough employees at his job to go with him an insurance broker might be able to give you a group rate on insurance as well.
