Illinois Health Insurance

Agents can be an invaluable resource by helping to locate the best insurance plan options, helping policyholders fill out applications, and managing the claims filing process. However, no matter how good your agent, you should take a few minutes to understand the details of health insurance policies so you can explain the key features you are hoping to find in an insurance plan.

Comparing costs
No plan pays 100% of health costs, but some are more generous than others. Review:

Premiums. How much is the monthly or annual fee? You will be paying these premiums regardless of how much medical care you need.

Copays. Are there copays for medical visits and medications?  Does your plan offer a drug mail-order option with discounted copays?

Deductibles. Are you required to pay some initial costs before coverage kicks in? Deductibles can range widely from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars. Generally speaking higher premium plans will have lower deductibles and lower premium plans will have higher deductibles.

Annual Out-of-Pocket Maximum: This is the total amount of money that you would have to spend on medical expenses before your insurance company pays all remaining costs. Note that premium costs do not count toward an out-of-pocket maximum, and, depending on the plan, certain costs such as prescription drug costs or out-of-network treatment may have separate out-of-pocket maximums.

Maximum allowable benefits. Will your insurer stop paying if you reach a benefit ceiling? If you become seriously ill, how much might you be responsible for paying?

Also read about each plan’s billing policy. Some plans limit how much they reimburse doctors. If the doctor’s fees are more, you are responsible for paying the balance.  If the plan requires you to pay upfront and submit claims for reimbursement, can you afford to cover medical costs until the insurance company reimburses you?

Considering your health care needs
Most plans pay for medical, surgical, and hospital care, as well as some of the cost for medications. Some plans cover dental expenses, mental health, and other forms of treatment, though these plans are more expensive. Review plan coverage, as well as rules about pre-existing conditions (e.g., HIV, cancer). Check to see if the policy lists exclusions and limitations:

• Exclusions are health care services not covered by the plan.
• Limitations are services covered under certain conditions. For example, the plan might require you to get prior approval before seeking health care for elective hospitalization.
• If you’re planning on having children, pay special attention to maternity care. Some insurance plans do not cover pregnancy and related expenses, which, all told, can total tens of thousands of dollars.

Ensuring doctors and medical care facilities are convenient
If you want to continue with your current doctors, see which insurance plans they accept.  If plans require you to use doctors or medical facilities in their provider network, are they conveniently located?  Review plan rules about after hours and emergency care.

Making the purchase
Before you sign up for insurance, read all of the documents carefully. Ensure the contract accurately lists the health plan name and insurance company, start and end dates, limits and deductibles, and plan features.  Also, review payment information, including the premium costs and payment terms.

Answer application questions honestly. Companies check the accuracy of application data—and incorrect information may delay the start date, result in denial of coverage, or prompt felony prosecution for fraud. Sign and date the forms and keep a copy for your records.

Health insurance agents cannot sell health insurance policies unless they are licensed to do so by the state department of insurance. While a college degree is not necessary to become a licensed agent, many agencies seek college-educated applicants and a business degree is particularly helpful to advance into management.

In a majority of states, only applicants that have passed pre-licensing courses are issued licenses. In addition, they need to pass exams that cover insurance fundamentals and state-specific laws. In fact, many states and employers require insurance brokers to take ongoing classes to ensure they stay abreast of the ever-changing product options and opportunities in the marketplace. Licensing laws are designed to protect the agent, the client and the industry.

In an effort to allow agents who earn a license in one state to become licensed in other states upon passing appropriate coursework and exams, the insurance industry is moving toward establishing uniform state licensing standards and reciprocal licensing.

Several organizations make available professional designation programs that certify an agent’s expertise. To retain designation, agents are typically required to complete a specified number of hours of continuing education. These support networks educate and elevate the status of agents in the industry and assure clients and employers that an agent has a thorough understanding of the relevant product line.

Via Jason Kottke comes news of ultra cheap, over the counter generic drugs available at Amazon. The online retailing giant offers over the counter drugs in bulk at a fraction of the price of Wal-Mart, Target and other large retail stores. For example, according to some numbers from Matt Thompson, regular Benadryl costs $0.22 a pill, the Wal-Mart equivalent costs $0.16 a pill, while the Amazon generic costs just $.02 a pill.

Shop for an individual plan
If your only option is to get individual health insurance, keep in mind that costs will vary depending on your medical history, age and the insurer that you select. Be sure to get multiple plan options and carefully compare prices.

You Get Options for a Range of Prices
An agent will use information you provide—a list of things you’d like

Most of the easy-to-find health insurance websites operate with the same basic strategy:  They obtain your personal data (name, address, phone number, email, age, private health information, etc.), then they sell it to insurance agents.

For example — You fill out a form at a health insurance website.  This personal information is immediately sold and transmitted.  You’re now a “sales lead.”

Within an hour you receive phone calls from multiple salesmen.  You went to the internet to avoid solicitors, but you got the opposite result.

In contrast, any information you provide at www.IllinoisHealthandlife.com (and we don’t ask for much) STAYS WITH US.  We don’t sell or distribute data we obtain from our site visitors.

Here are a few tips to make your health insurance search safer and more effective:

To protect your personal information, look for health insurance websites providing firm assurance that your private data will be safeguarded.

Health insurance websites that are serious about privacy obtain third party endorsement.  For example, Illinois Health and Life  is a licensee of the TRUSTe Privacy Program.  TRUSTe is an independent, non-profit organization whose mission is to build user’s trust and confidence in the Internet by promoting the use of fair information practices.

If a health insurance website asks for information like your occupation, your income or the names of your children, just leave.  This personal data will almost certainly be sold.

Unless you’re certain you’re dealing with a trusted vendor or you’re actually submitting a health insurance application, don’t provide private health information.  We never cease to be amazed at the masses of consumers who freely volunteer details of their health histories and prescription usage to websites that don’t even display a phone number or mailing address.

Use commons sense in guarding your private information.

If a health insurance website doesn’t provide a business street address, or you can’t find a phone number within a couple clicks — you’ve likely encountered one of the many sleazy operations that only want to profit from your private information.

If you are searching for a quick Illinois Health insurance quote, your search is over. We will provide you with instant side-by-side quotes of many affordable Illinois health insurance plan options available in your local area. Download our Free Illinois Health Insurance Buyers Guide to assist you with your research.

We specialize in affordable Illinois Individual and Family health insurance quotes. Access to direct carrier rates from the best rated Illinois plan providers, such as Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield Illinois, Humana, United Health Care, Unicare and many more.

A Health Savings Account is an alternative to traditional health insurance; it is a savings product that offers a different way for consumers to pay for their health care. HSAs enable you to pay for current health expenses and save for future qualified medical and retiree health expenses on a tax-free basis.                                                     

You must be covered by a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) to be able to take advantage of HSAs. An HDHP generally costs less than what traditional health care coverage costs, so the money that you save on insurance can therefore be put into the Health Savings Account.

You own and you control the money in your HSA. Decisions on how to spend the money are made by  you without relying on a third party or a health insurer. You will also decide what types of investments to make with the money in the account in order to make it grow. 

Watch a Short Video to learn more about Health Savings Accounts

                                                   Watch Video Here!

A  Illinois Health Insurance policy is a contract between an insurance company and an individual. The contract can be renewable annually or monthly. The type and amount of health care costs that will be covered by the health plan are specified in advance, in the member contract or Evidence of Coverage booklet. The individual policy-holder’s payment obligations may take several forms.

Premium: The amount the policy-holder pays to the health plan each month to purchase health coverage.

• Deductible: The amount that the policy-holder must pay out-of-pocket before the health plan pays its share. For example, a policy-holder might have to pay a $1500 deductible per year, before any of their health care is covered by the health plan. It may take several doctor’s visits or prescription refills before the policy-holder reaches the deductible and the health plan starts to pay for care. Locate plans that will cover your Dr. visits/Annual Wellness/Immunization/RX prior to meeting your deductible.
• Copayment: The amount that the policy-holder must pay out of pocket before the health plan pays for a particular visit or service. For example, a policy-holder might pay a $30 copayment for a doctor’s visit, or to obtain a prescription. A copayment must be paid each time a particular service is obtained.
• Coinsurance: Instead of paying a fixed amount up front (a copayment), the policy-holder must pay a percentage of the total cost. For example, the member might have to pay 20% of the cost of a surgery, while the health plan pays the other 80%. Because there is no upper limit on coinsurance, the policy-holder can end up owing very little, or a significant amount, depending on the actual costs of the services they obtain.
• Exclusions: Not all services are covered. The policy-holder is generally expected to pay the full cost of non-covered services out of their own pocket.
• Coverage limits: Some health plans only pay for health care up to a certain dollar amount. The policy-holder may be expected to pay any charges in excess of the health plan’s maximum payment for a specific service. In addition, some plans have annual or lifetime coverage maximums. In these cases, the health plan will stop payment when they reach the benefit maximum, and the policy-holder must pay all remaining costs.
• Out-of-pocket maximums: Similar to coverage limits, except that in this case, the member’s payment obligation ends when they reach the out-of-pocket maximum, and the health plan pays all further covered costs. Out-of-pocket maximums can be limited to a specific benefit category (such as prescription drugs) or can apply to all coverage provided during a specific benefit year.
• Capitation: An amount paid by an insurer to a health care provider, for which the provider agrees to treat all members of the insurer.
• In-Network Provider: A health care provider on a list of providers preselected by the insurer. The insurer will offer discounted coinsurance or copayments, or additional benefits, to a plan member to see an in-network provider. Generally, providers in network are providers who have a contract with the insurer to accept rates further discounted from the “usual and customary” charges the insurer pays to out-of-network providers.

Let me start off by saying, I have finally seen and heard it all.  I was watching the morning Fox News. Infomercial legend (Billy Mays), you know the same individual that promotes this amazing putty,  was now promoting (Guaranteed Health Insurance for everyone)  stating this is the most “exciting product” he has ever endorsed.  I am amazed of the individuals and Families that get mislead by these programs or similar type of limited coverage all over the internet.  Plans they are promoting are not Major Medical PPO plans.  These are classified as limited benefit type plans and have a very complicated schedule payment tiers based on hospitilization, surgery, anthesics, out-patient surgery.   Consumers are attracted by promoting office visits, prescriptions, and all the bells and whistles we all want included in our individual or family Health plan. I will go into further detail shortly, explaining the pitfalls and problems with these type of plans.