Health insurance plan reviews for the self-employed?

June 9, 2004 9:22 AM

Is there a reputable site that reviews health insurance plans for the self-employed? Everything I've Googled that appears to offer comparison shopping set off my scamdar. Who's the trusted source for this kind info? And who are the key players in this market?
posted by vraxoin to Health & Fitness (9 answers total)

Have you tried ehealthinsurance.com? They seem to offer established, "heard-of" providers and give instant quotes.
posted by boomchicka at 9:56 AM on June 9, 2004

Not really a direct answer to your question, but a comment as a result of my wife's recent experience. Don't forget that even if you are self-employed you maybe part of a group; in my wife's case her alumni association had a relatively affordable group policy that she could join. Things like that will not show up on any simple comparison, but are worth looking into.
posted by Quinbus Flestrin at 10:24 AM on June 9, 2004

vraxoin, this is a hard market. My first experience, through NASE, was pretty negative... over a period of a little over a year (1998-1999) during which I made *no* claims, paid above average premiums, and the stock market was in its phase of irrational exuberance, my rates doubled. I wrote asking for an explanation and got platitudes about the rising cost of health care. Whatever. I wonder if this isn't a common strategy to collect premiums for a year but get rid of somone before they actually claim anything.

I went back to school for a bit and used excellent student health insurance, but then when I started freelancing again, took about 9 months of stopgap coverage (fortunate, since I got pretty sick) before I finally settled on National Health Insurance. During that time, I also looked at offerings from MEGA Life and Health Insurance , but (as is pointed out on the MS page, which is why I chose it) they are a subsidiary of UICI, the same company who also held the company that administered the NASE plan, and I wasn't going down that road again. I looked at Fortis as well, but they were administering my gap coverage and were such pills that I really didn't want to go that route.

My other options were local providers... Blue Cross of Utah and IHC, both which have good reps, had very affordable plans with reasonable coverage, but because I was worried about being very sick at the time, and didn't/don't know the laws well, I was concerned that I could effectively leave myself in a situation of being not covered if I moved. So I chose NHI because they were, in fact, National (heck, they'll cover you outside the US).

I pay about a 80% premium over the local Blue, though, and the coverage does not pay for doctor's office visits. These, however, have not been as expensive as I might have thought -- most offices are so happy that you're going to pay them right away (as opposed to insurance companies, that will draw them out for months and months) that they'll give you a substantial discount, my experience has been 33% - 50%. And I do have procedures covered, past a deductible of $500, plus additional discounts from network providers. Reimbursements have been fast and fair. I still look around, because of the high premiums, but overall, it's been a decent experience, which is more than I could say for a lot of former tries.
posted by weston at 10:27 AM on June 9, 2004

I don't know of any trusted third parties, or comparisons that have been done (sounds ripe for consumer reports, though, so you might check their website to see if they've done so -- it's $4.00 or so to see a particular article).

I used Fortis in the past. It was pretty good catostrophic coverage (did not cover perscriptions, checkups, etc.) with high life-time and per-illness limits. I think I paid $150 for my uninsured 3-months out of school.

I never used it and never made any claims, so I don't know how the customer service / claims service is. I can only recommend the easy and fast web-interface to sign up.
posted by zpousman at 10:38 AM on June 9, 2004

trusted third parties, or comparisons that have been done

Consumer Reports information was remarkably difficult to dig up, though there was an HMO/PPO comparison or two.

However, the thing that was the biggest help to me in getting a list of what was out there was my state's insurance regulator's website. Check there. They will also have information about complaints.
posted by weston at 10:55 AM on June 9, 2004

I should also be fair to Fortis: I made a claim on my gap coverage within a week of having it issued. This was pretty much a coincidence, as when I started filling out their forms, I had no idea I was going to be ill. By the time I mailed it, though, I had started to have some indication, and I already knew I was going to visit a doctor. I don't blame them much for asking for a review, but the delays were *months* rather than weeks, and that was worrying.
posted by weston at 10:59 AM on June 9, 2004

Response by poster: Don't forget that even if you are self-employed you maybe part of a group;

That's an interesting point--I'm a web developer in Austin, TX. Seems like there ought to be some sort of professional association around here.
posted by vraxoin at 12:15 PM on June 9, 2004

I planed on joining my local chamber of commece for the sole reason of getting in on their group rate but currently you need at least 2 full-time employees to qualify. Austin's may be different though.
posted by Mick at 12:20 PM on June 9, 2004

Ask around anywhere you can for info on groups you either already are part, or can easily join. Mick beat me to mentioning possibly Chamber of Commerce groups.
posted by Goofyy at 1:31 AM on June 10, 2004