I just got a phone call from someone looking for Denver health insurance. They more or less said to me “All I Need is just a Quote” Some of you might remember that line from a auto insurance advertisement on TV a few years back. While the quoted line might sound vague to me, to the consumer it makes it sound like getting a quote should be just as easy as buying a loaf of bread. If your like many out there looking for a Colorado health insurance quote then you sould continue reading.

Some people equate “All I Need is just a Quote” to getting an instant quote. It’s understandable why this would be. We live in an age where we can go online and see prices for just about anything we could imagine buying. The consumer wants and needs to have an idea of how much they will be spending for health insurance. But that’s where the practicality of the “Instant Health Insurance Quote” ends.

So what goes into getting an instant heath insurance quote?

Gender
Age
Zip Code

Often times when people get an instant quote they are surprised to learn that the quoted amount for a plan is not what their premium is going to be. This happens becuase an instant health insurance quote fails to take into consideration any pre-existing conditions. This could include something as far back as ten years ago. In fact, an instant health insurance quote is based on the quoted as being 100% healthy and taking no Rx now or in the past. Shopping for Health Insurance is not as easy as it may look. There are a multitude of plans out there that on the face look like they will provide the consumer with adequate coverage for very little in premium. My tip for anyone looking for health insurance on there own is that if it sounds like it’s going to save you money then stay away from it. In the long run it will only save the insurance company money.

From an nsurance roker’s perspective it’s always important to know why a client is looking for health insurance. The more that I  understand of a clients situation the more I am going to be able to place them with the right plan for their needs. This is why it’s so important to fill out a needs based questionnaire and describe why you are currently shopping for health insurance. It could be as simple as getting a rate increase or as complicated as having 3 family members that all need special consideration with what kind of health insurance each one needs.

I guarantee you that if you ever find yourself or a family memember in the hospsital, the last thing you are going to be thinking about is how awesome it is that you found a plan that had very low premiums. You’re going to be asking yourself “Are we going to be covered for this?”

Colorado Health Insurance Shop Needs Based Questionnaire

I get a lot of clients asking about whether or not an any Colorado HSA are right for them. My reply has always been “why pay more to the health insurance companies than you have to?!”

I always like to start out by mentioning that there are two types of people love HSAs. And that’s Colorado Health Insurance agents and financial advisers. To sum it up, we’re the only ones that really understand it. It’s our job to help you understand it and to help you decide whether to not it’s right for you.

First of all we start with plans that are called High Deductible Health Plan or HDHP for short. These plans were more or less designed by the feds. Some carriers include coverage for annual preventive services but for the most part nothing is covered until you reach your deductible. Yes, you read that right, nothing is covered until you reach your deductible. Before you get scared lets think about that. What’s covered before you reach your deductible on a co-pay plan? Doctor visits and RX right. Now think about what happens to the premium if we eliminate the both co-pays? Keep in mind that once you reach your deductible all future doctor co-pays and RX co-pays are covered at 100%! When we eliminate the co-pays we have reduced the premium considerably. . I’m on an HSA with a $2,500 deductible per year, if I were on a co-pay plan with a $2,000 deductible  with a $1k coinsurance from the same carrier, my monthly premiums would be $290 and my co-pays would be $25 per visit.

Last year I went to the doctor 3 times. My doctor in Lakewood charges me $70 a visit. So that comes out to $210 that I spent doctor visits last year. The premium difference between the two plans is almost $1k annually, and I have $500 more in financial liability on the co-pay plan from having a coinsurance. So now we are at about $1,500 more a year that I would have to pay out of pocket if I found myself in a worst case scenario on the co-pay plan. Not to mention that on the co-pay plan I would still be paying for  both doctor visit co-pays and RX co-pays after I reached the deductible. So yeah, what about all of those doctor visits out of pocket on the HSA? Well once I reach my deductible those doctor visits are paid for by the insurance company at 100%, that also includes your RX. As I like to say, why pay more to the insurance company than you have to?

If you are still with me than this is a part some of you will love. By now you’ve probably asked yourself so what is the HSA part of all of this. An HSA account works just like an IRA. Accept that it’s used to pay for anything that is charged to you by the doctors or the insurance company. So if you were on an HDHP/HSA plan (BTW, an HSA can only be opened if you are on a HDHP) then you could look at your deductible as being tax differed from your income!

HSA can reduce your premiums
Take the difference of reduced premiums the amount you would be paying on a co-pay and put that into your HSA account to cover anything up to the deductible.
Money that is in the HSA account never goes anywhere unless you spend it.

If I have not totally confused you to the point where you’ve ran away to another website and you would like to discuss your option please feel free to either call me at 720-301-2767 or email me at kurt@kewinsurance.net

BTW, like I said before the only two people that really like HSA plans are both Colorado Health Insurance agents and your financial adviser. It’s so different than what most of us are used to. It’s outside the norm for us and we tend to get a bit scared when we think that we have to cover such a large amount. But like I said before the savings is from having to pay less and putting that savings into your HSA to fund the deductible.

I’m writing about this because I come across more than a few people every year looking for Colorado Health Insurance Quote that tell me because of either a  pre-existing condition or they’ve been denied health insurance, Health Insurance Brokers and Agents have told them they cannot find health insurance in Colorado. Well that’s just flat out wrong! A lot of agents don’t even bother to mention that you have access to Cover Colorado.

Thankfully we live in a state that has what’s called a “High Risk Pool”. Cover Colorado is there for people who have been denied/declined health insurance due to a pre-existing medical condition, or have exhausted all of their COBRA benefits. While CC is not a low income plan, this may be your only option if you are unable to obtain coverage elsewhere and can afford it. CC cannot compete in our health insurance market so the premiums are going to be a tad higher. But in my opinion the higher premium is a small price to pay for coverage that in some states you would not even be able to get.

There is one very important catch to CC that I want you to understand. One is if you have not had health insurance for the last 90 days prior to applying for coverage you will not be covered for any pre-existing conditions for the first 6 months that you are on the plan. But in a worst case scenario it’s still better than nothing if you have a pre-existing condition.

CC also offers a Coordination of Benefits (COB) plan to those disabled individuals under age 65 who cannot purchase Medicare supplement policies outside the open enrollment period. 

At last count there were 37 states that have high risk pools such as CC. Some are good and others are pretty much worthless. In my opinion Cover Colorado is one of the better ones out there.

State Health insurance risk pools are special programs created by state legislation to provide a safety net for the “medically uninsurable” population. These are people who have been denied health insurance coverage because of a pre-existing health condition, or who can only access private coverage that is restricted or has extremely high rates.

Each of the current 37 state risk pool-type programs is different. For the most part, the programs operate as a state-created nonprofit Association overseen by a board of directors made up of industry, consumer and state insurance department representatives. The board contracts with an established insurance company to collect premiums and pay claims and administer the program on a day-to-day basis. Insurance benefits vary from state to state with Colorado being one of the better, but risk pools typically offer benefits that are comparable to basic private market plans — 80/20 major medical and outpatient coverage, a choice of deductible and co-payments. Maximum lifetime benefits vary by state from as low as $350,000 to $2 million.

Want to know more about Cover Colorado? Here’s a FAQ and their website is www.covercolorado.org and go here for a quote

BTW, if you need to get a letter from a health insurance company denying you coverage Humana has the fastest underwriting in the market. They usually make a decision in a day or so.

I will add that I have rarely seen state higher risk pools brought up in our current national health care reform debate.