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An Easy Guide to Choosing Health Insurance

By The Busy Budgeter | 30 Comments | This post may contain affiliate links

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I am so glad I found this article!! There's nothing that confuses me more than the different choices of health insurances and making sure I pick the one that works best for my family. This article walks you step-by-step through how to pick health insurance, I'm definitely saving it for later incase I ever need to switch!

This post is sponsored by PolicyGenius.  All content and opinions expressed here are my own.

Health insurance is one of those tricky topics that nobody understands, but everyone needs to in some form or another.

Whether you’re self-employed or have insurance through an employer, it’s not uncommon to shop around for a better option. And, of course, if you’re self-employed, it’s something you have to actively seek out by yourself – which can be pretty overwhelming if you’ve never done it before.

I can completely understand that. Last year was the first year both Jon and I became self employed and choosing health insurance was super frustrating.

It’s important to understand the different kinds of health insurance plans and how the benefits each one offers (or doesn’t offer) affects how much you’re actually spending out-of-pocket. This is especially important if you have preferred doctors and regularly need to take prescription drugs, because you need to know what’s covered and what’s not.

The thing is, there’s a lot of information out there, and a lot of decisions to make. Premiums, deductibles, preferred providers, HMOs vs PPOs, and so on and so forth. It’s endless – and it can be really difficult to narrow down what your options actually are. But, thankfully, there are companies that are taking the pain out of shopping for health insurance. PolicyGenius’ health insurance app cuts through insurance jargon, provides access to on-and-off exchange plans, and educates you throughout the process.

Determining your budget

For most people, the monthly premium is going to be the most important factor, but remember that there are a lot of factors that go into defining this budget. Most people spend 5% of their annual gross income on healthcare premiums. Increasing the amount you can spend each month will increase your number of plan options.

You will also need to consider your deductible, the amount you’ll have to pay out-of-pocket before your health insurance kicks in. If you have a higher deductible you’ll have a lower premium, so you’ll have to make a trade off between paying more upfront every month or paying more before your insurer starts covering the bills.

A high-deductible plan with an HSA (health savings account) attached may help you save money by letting you use pre-tax money on medical expenses. Alternatively, you might want a lower deductible plan with a higher monthly cost so you have a more consistent payment each month with fewer surprises.

You’ll also need to keep in mind the copay for each visit – the flat fee you pay for a medical service. Also, if there are major medical expenses you’ll be looking at in the next year (like a pregnancy), that’s another factor to keep in mind, because you’ll want a plan that will help you save the most money possible on those expenses.

Having a budget set before you search for an actual policy will make the process a lot simpler.

Selecting your plan benefit “must-haves” and “nice-to-haves”

After you know how much you have to spend on healthcare costs, you can find the best possible health insurance plan for you and your family by writing a list of what’s most important to you. You can split your plan benefits list into ’”must-haves” and “nice-to-haves”. This will help you understand the importance and potential cost of each specific benefit when you start narrowing down your plan options.

Some questions you may want to consider:

  • Is it important to you to stay with your current doctor? If so, you’ll want to be sure they’re covered by the plan you choose and realize that they may not always be covered in the future.
  • Do you have a particularly accident-prone child? If so, you may want to consider a lower deductible or out-of-pocket charge for emergency room visits. 🙂
  • How often do you visit the doctor in a typical year? Do you have medical issues that will likely require frequent medical care? If so, you’ll want to pay close attention to out-of-pocket max and co-pay fees.
  • Do you regularly take prescription drugs? If so, you’ll probably want to pick a health insurance plan with robust prescription drug coverage.

Developing a list of the things that are most important to you will help you build a framework of ideas and expectations so you can go into your health insurance shopping process prepared.

For us, this list looked like this…

  •  I go to the doctor about once every two months (I’m a self-diagnosed hypochondriac. I’m ridiculous).
  • The kids go every 3 months, because day care requires doctors notes after any extended illness.
  • Jon would rather perform surgery in our kitchen with an exacto knife than go to the doctor.
  •  No one is on Rx medication.
  • Our family doctor has a voice line that keeps us from making unnecessary ER trips.
  • We refuse to change doctors (ours is awesome and will even treat us on weekends if needed).
  • One of our kids has eczema that requires frequent dermatology appointments (needing a referral every time would cost us a fortune).

Once you’ve written down your “must-haves” and nice-to haves, you’ll be ready to set out and find a perfect plan for you, or you and your family.

Shopping with PolicyGenius

Using the PolicyGenius health insurance app makes shopping for insurance easy because they walk you through the shopping process with plain English explanations and offer you shopping tips along the way. The whole process only took me 5 minutes and I felt much more comfortable about my decision than I did last year since I finally understand what’s included in my plan.

When you start the shopping on PolicyGenius you’ll start by defining your premium and deductible budgets, which you can adjust using sliders during the process. As you adjust the sliders the app will add or remove plan options right away, so you can instantly see what plans are out of your price range or what becomes available if you increase your deductible a little bit (just be sure to stick with the budget you set).

They’ll also ask you what doctors you see (you can search for them right on the site) and what medications you take. Then you’ll assign a “must-have” or “nice-to-have” for each benefit (for example is it more important for you to stay in budget or have your current doctor in network), and you can see your available plans ranked by your own personal priorities. The app presents the top plans for your needs, and lets you compare options in one easy place.

PolicyGenius lets you see every health insurance plan that’s available to you (but don’t worry, they are ranked in order of importance, based on your preferences and budget). That includes on-exchange plans, that are on government sites like HealthCare.gov, and off-exchange plans that are available on private marketplaces. Every plan has protections like the ten essential benefits that have to be covered, but off-exchange plans may be cheaper.

Plans are shown side by side so you can compare them against each other. You can sort plans by how well they match your “must-have”s and budget. You can also sort them by type (HMO, EPO, or PPO) so you can choose which works best for you. When you look at a plan, all of the details will be there in plain English, so you don’t have to go digging through paperwork to find out what’s covered.

The whole process takes less than 5-minutes from the start of the process. If you’re shopping for health insurance, the last day is January 31st. Visit PolicyGenius and sign up for health insurance today.

 

FTC Disclosure of Material Connection: In order for us to maintain this website, some of the links in the post above may be affiliate links. Regardless, we only recommend products or services we use personally and/or believe will add value to readers

Filed Under: Life Skills 101, Money Matters

Comments

  1. Making Your Money Matter says

    January 27 at 5:09 pm

    Great guide! Finding good health insurance can be really difficult, especially these days. I love that resources like this where you can compare a bunch of plans at once with just one input.

    Reply
  2. Jennifer says

    February 14 at 4:53 pm

    WOw !
    Awesome guide ! Health insurance can be confusing, especially since you have a million new terms being thrown at you: deductible, Affordable Care Act, copayment, premium, Obamacare – the list is endless. Thanks for sharing with us !

    Reply
  3. Julfikar says

    February 23 at 11:32 am

    Really Using the PolicyGenius health insurance app makes shopping for insurance easy because they walk you through the shopping process with plain English explanations and offer you shopping tips along the way?

    Reply
  4. DeanIronside says

    May 13 at 6:37 am

    Hi Buddy,
    Fantastic post to read on this article.

    Health insurance is a complicated topic that few individuals know about.The information you share in this article is very valuable and mandatory.Beginners like me who want each and every detail about health insurance for them this post is commendable.Wonderful tips you have shared on the insurance benefits.keep up the good work.
    Keep on sharing new posts.

    Regards
    DeanIronside

    Reply
  5. Daniel Ryan says

    June 17 at 8:13 am

    If you qualify for a Special Enrollment Period due to a life event like losing other coverage, getting married, or having a baby.
    If you qualify for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). You can apply any time.

    Reply
  6. Abram says

    July 12 at 10:40 pm

    It’s true that health insurance can be complicated and most people would choose to either avoid or embrace it. That’s why it’s important for insurance companies to provide such products that can only be beneficial for the masses and not the other way around.

    Reply
  7. Alex says

    August 30 at 10:29 am

    It’s cool to see a guide like this! I think most people are so overwhelmed usually that they just skip the whole process. Thanks!

    Reply
  8. pre-workout supplements says

    October 10 at 7:07 am

    Normally, you should be able to get all the nutrients you need from a balanced diet. However, taking supplements can provide additional nutrients when your diet is lacking or when certain health conditions cause you to develop an insufficiency or deficiency. In most cases, multiple-vitamin supplements provide all the basic micro-nutrients (vitamins and minerals) your body needs.

    Reply
  9. osteopathic techniques says

    October 10 at 7:25 am

    Chiropractic care can benefit many people with a great number of health conditions. Even those with few, if any, health conditions can benefit from chiropractic maintenance care.

    Reply
  10. inhome care says

    October 10 at 7:32 am

    With in-home care, families that are unable to serve as primary caregivers have the benefit of knowing that their loved ones are receiving professional, compassionate, and personalized care in the convenience of their own homes.

    Reply
    • senior living says

      October 10 at 7:40 am

      Addressing problems with an in-home caregiver can be more complicated. The person your family hired may turn out to be unqualified or have a negative attitude. But the patient may still like him or her, in spite of apparent flaws.

      Reply
  11. chiropractic seminars says

    October 16 at 5:30 am

    Natural home treatment fοr heel pain іѕ simple, inexpensive аnd dοеѕ nοt cause side effects. Home treatment fοr heel pain thаt uses natural remedies іѕ: 1) rest 2) icing 3) pain relievers 4) orthotic 5) simple exercises аnd 6) night splints.

    Reply
  12. care homes says

    November 6 at 1:23 am

    Just see if it offers what you need and look for reviews. There are so many scammers out there.

    Reply
  13. in home care says

    December 5 at 10:20 am

    Yes that’s true. Health insurance is so important to us. it will help us in the future.

    Reply
  14. osteopathic techniques says

    December 12 at 5:51 am

    Natural home treatment fοr heel pain іѕ simple, inexpensive аnd dοеѕ nοt cause side effects. Home treatment fοr heel pain thаt uses natural remedies іѕ: 1) rest 2) icing 3) pain relievers 4) orthotic 5) simple exercises аnd 6) night splints.

    Reply
  15. home and community care says

    February 9 at 3:45 pm

    I didn’t know that there’s different kinds of health insurance. Thanks for the heads up.

    Reply
  16. Dennis Taylor says

    April 24 at 4:20 am

    Thank you for a really helpful guide. Since there are a lot of plans available: HMO, PPO, EPO, or POS, it’s hard to choose the best one for us and our family. The first step we should do is to go to the marketplace and view all plan options side by side. Then we need to choose which plan to go for after a careful consideration. One more important thing is that we should make sure any plan we choose will pay for our regular and necessary care, like prescriptions and specialists.

    Reply
  17. Pablo says

    July 8 at 3:36 am

    inexpensive аnd dοеѕ nοt cause side effects. Home treatment fοr heel pain thаt uses natural remedies іѕ: 1) rest 2) icing 3) pain relievers 4) orthotic 5) simple exercises аnd 6) night splints.

    Reply
  18. Arthur says

    July 8 at 3:42 am

    Present time the trend of insurance is increased and a lot of members got benefits of insurance. The health insurance is insurance that covers the all or a part of the risk of a person incurring medical expenses, spreading the risk over a large number of persons

    Reply
  19. Shafer says

    July 18 at 9:14 am

    There are a lot of benefits of health insurance and i have also insurance holder. All the insurance companies support us in the case of diseases and any other medical issue. I am just saying you it has many benefits.

    Reply
  20. Tanya Gupta says

    August 23 at 6:28 am

    Some are few features and benefits that highlight the need for a health insurance policy and by now we hope you’ve understood the importance of taking an effective health policy for you and your loved ones. You can check out here: http://bit.ly/2KnUO41

    Reply
  21. Kalsara says

    August 25 at 4:38 pm

    I love the post. Thank you for this awesome post.

    Reply
  22. Kalsara says

    September 1 at 1:45 pm

    Thank you so much for this post

    Reply
  23. HealthsBulletin says

    October 25 at 1:20 pm

    Finding good health insurance can be really difficult in present time I think it will be great resource for us

    Reply
  24. Md Saiful Islam says

    December 15 at 9:41 am

    The post contains a lot of information and need some time to read it and i think after reading the post your opinion will be such that everyone should take the advantages of the health insurance.

    Reply
  25. Md Saiful Islam says

    December 15 at 9:46 am

    There are so many info in this post and I have gained little idea about health insurance which are unknown for me. After reading the post like me, any one’s opinion will be such that everyone should take the advantages of the health insurance.

    Reply
  26. Health says

    February 4 at 1:26 am

    You are absolutely right, Maintaining healthiness isn’t a troublesome issue like rocket science you only required dedication for it.Thank you so much for sharing.

    Reply
  27. enid darez says

    February 7 at 6:05 am

    Amazing article! finding good health insurance is really very hard but your article can help me..thanks

    Reply
  28. Penelope Smith says

    February 14 at 7:44 pm

    Getting insurance seems a really difficult thing to do. I liked that you pointed out that you should figure out how much out-of-pocket money you will have to use. That is a good thing for me to know because I need to get a new insurance plan this year.

    Reply
  29. noor says

    May 5 at 8:30 am

    40yrs and I am the “geek” behind it all. I do all the web design and development as well as all our graphic design, so we make a great team. We would love to be able to develop a relationship and support you as well as other nurses blogs because we think that building a community of experts is so beneficial especially in the medical/healthcare field, and it seems as there isn’t much out there. So lets make it happen!

    Reply

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