Health Insurance in 2017
There was a time that whenever you had an illness or an accident which you or your parents could not handle themselves, you called the family doctor. You either went in to see him, or if you were too ill, he came to see you. And you saw him daily if you were in the hospital on his rounds. On rare occasions you saw a “specialist” at a big hospital downtown or went to Mayo Brothers or some other far-away place for a special consultation.
If you had insurance, you paid your deductible and 20% of whatever the rest of the bills were. You went to any doctor who would see you. They all took whatever insurance company you had and the insurance company paid the same 80% balance no matter whom you saw.
In 2017 we have HMO’s PPO’s, HSA’S, private and public exchanges, on and off the marketplace, tax credits and cost-sharing.
We have carriers which insurance only groups, carriers who insure only individuals under 65, but not group, and carriers who have policies off but not on the marketplace. They have different levels of coverage, different out-of-pocket costs, pre-tax payment allowances, and the biggest of all, LISTS OF PROVIDERS YOU MUST SEE IN ORDER TO BE COVERED.
Wouldn’t you like some help to figure out which one of the many plans available are right for you? This past year most of the carriers no longer included the teaching hospitals in downtown Chicago for the individual plans. Hospital systems they own in the suburbs are no longer in-network either. Some cover a very small system, and others, even though they may be in the covered network, do not have the practitioners you want.
Wouldn’t you like to have some qualified help in navigating your way through this process? We have over 40 years of personal experience in helping people choose the right coverage. Let us help you as well.