THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 2013
What are the components of a quality healthcare plan?
1. Unlimited benefits
2. resonable cost sharing
3. resonable maximum out of pocket expense
4. coverage for all illnesses, prescription drugs and therapies
5. Large network of providers
6. Out of network coverage
If you have all of these benefits in your health insurance plan you have a high quality health plan. Plans like these cost at least $700 per month for an individual in a group plan in the NY Metro area and can go as high as $1300 per month. So why are some plans selling for so much less. The only reason that some plans will be selling for so much less is the reduction of choice. Obamacare requires items 1 through 4 to be at a certain standard. So items 5 and 6 are left to be reduced or eliminated. If you look at all of the new health plans that will be available in 2014 you will notice none of them will have out of network benefits and many of them will have micro networks of providers. The networks will be of limited geographic areas and will contract, in many cases, only with providers that accept medicaid( the state plan that providers for the poor). So when you are shopping for a quality health plan, your major concern should be the network of providers that the plan is offering. The lowest cost plans will be offering the smallest network of providers while in most cases the higher cost plans will be offering much larger networks of doctors and hospitals.