RSSGetting Health Insurance On The Individual Market
Finances healthcare insurance, medical insurance broker, private medical insurance No Comments
Most people in the United States sign up for health insurance on the job as part of their employee benefits. However, approximately 14 million Americans must purchase their coverage directly from the individual private medical insurance market. If you are one of these 14 million people, you already know that the benefits of receiving medical insurance as part of an employee benefit package don’t apply to you as an individual that must purchase medical insurance directly for yourself and your family.
For example, you don’t get to just easily choose a plan for the year because as an individual, the insurance underwriting is based on you and the family members that you want to cover. This means that preexisting medical conditions in your family can affect the plans you can get, what is covered and your out-of-pocket costs when you or a family member receives medical care.
However, with the new health care reform legislation recently passed by the United States Congress, individuals who must purchase medical insurance directly will have better options mandated by the U.S. government. For example, starting this year a child cannot be denied medical coverage by an insurance carrier because of a preexisting medical condition. This will also be the case for everyone starting in 2014. If an adult has a preexisting medical condition and needs coverage prior to 2014, there is a high risk pool being setup this year that will offer coverage.
A benefit of being offered medical insurance options as an employee is that your Human Resources department has done the legwork of choosing plan options and negotiated rates with a medical insurance company. If you are purchasing healthcare insurance directly, you have to do this legwork yourself. This is why availing yourself of the services of a trustworthy medical insurance broker is a good first step to finding the medical insurance that is right for you and your family.
A medical insurance broker can help you sort through the terms used in the industry that will affect your out of pocket costs as well as help you make sure you are getting the full benefit of the new legislation when purchasing health insurance in the United States.