Health Insurance and You!

We often speak with consumers every day that are struggling to make sense out of health insurance pricing. Today, I thought I would illustrate it with a small example. I encourage you to try it for yourself.

I went to the getinsured health insurance quoting site and tried to obtain quotes for myself — zip code 94303, 40 years old with no health conditions.

Then, I looked for plans with a medium sized deductible (generally about $2,500) that support doctor visits, wellness and benefits for both generic and branded drugs.

The variation in pricing can be quite dramatic. The cheapest plan offered by Anthem was $686/month while the cheapest plan offered by Blue Shield of California was about $190/month.

Now bear in mind — both carriers offer excellent networks in California and are generally quite competitive. Yet there was almost a 3x difference in pricing — why?

It turns out that the Anthem plan offers both mental health and maternity benefits while the Blue Shield of California does not.

The lesson here? Not all plans are created equal and it helps to carefully evaluate what you really need. Perhaps you really need maternity and mental health benefits and can afford
$686/month. In that case the Anthem health insurance plan is right for you.

However, the vast majority of our customers, with stretched household budgets would likely opt for the Blue Shield plan with a premium of $190/month.

To your health,
Chini