1. Choose a State-Licensed Insurance Plan. Not all offers you receive or investigate (particularly through the internet) will be for real (i.e. State-licensed) individual health insurance.   Because health insurance is both complicated and unfamiliar to most people, it can be easy to misunderstand the coverage you are buying. Far too many consumers have been mislead into buying “health plans” with unrealistically low coverage limits (i.e., some plans marketed in ME are advertised to have $1M lifetime benefits, but when you read the fine print, you find they have maximum annual surgical benefits of as little as $2000!). Even worse are “health discount cards” which, by themselves, offer no real financial protection or guarantee of access in the event of a serious medical need.  By choosing a State-licensed plan you can be sure that a.) The plan meets the requirements of “real” health insurance and b.) That all marketing and information materials used to help you choose your plan conform to State requirements for accuracy and completeness.  



2. Use a State-Licensed Health Insurance Agent. Many plans have pre-set “packages” of benefits, and can be priced on-line (although typically only the “preferred risk” pricing is available on-line – if anyone to be covered has any health issues, other/higher rates may apply.) Other plans provide an “a la carte” menu of benefits to be combined into a customized plan, and typically require a consultation with an agent because they aren’t as easy for consumers to price on-line. (In fact, some plans do not even allow for on-line pricing because of their highly customized nature.)  Also, health insurance terminology can be confusing for many consumers, for whom health insurance/medical costs make up a large (and increasing) portion of their household’s monthly expenses.  Because health insurance premiums are filed with and regulated by the state's Department of Insurance, whether you buy through a local agent or directly through the health insurance company web site, you'll pay the same monthly premium for the same plan.  For these reasons, Maine Consumer Health recommends consumers always consult a licensed agent to be sure they get the best health insurance value. 



3. The “Best” Plan is Different for Everyone. Everyone’s needs are different.  Insurance – health, life, auto, homeowners, etc. – is a tool for managing your risk.  If you knew you (and your family) would never be sick or injured, you wouldn’t need to buy health insurance.  But because you don’t know that, because there is a risk to all of us that we’ll need medical care, we all need health insurance.  For many people who have had employer-provided medical benefits, the options available to them have been limited to a typically narrow range of what the employer provided.  However, as an individual shopping for your own insurance, the health insurance options available are much greater than in the group market.  In the end, deciding what your best plan is comes down to a combination of a.) How healthy you are, b.) How confident you are about your health in the future (i.e. how “risk tolerant” you are) and c.) How much you can afford.  This is another reason why we recommend speaking with a licensed health insurance agent before making a final decision.



4. Beware of “Granting” Permission for Affiliate Marketing. Research shows that the biggest complaint consumers have about using internet quote services is all the un-related and un-wanted business solicitations they get from “marketing partners” or “affiliates” of the various quote request services.  With many on-line quote services, consumers “grant permission” (often times without knowing it) to the internet quote service to share (i.e. sell) their information with “affiliated” companies marketing other products or services.  When this happens, consumers may find themselves on the receiving end of a huge volume of “affiliate marketing” – i.e., unwanted telemarketing calls, junk e-mail (“spam”) and junk regular (postal) mail.  BOTTOM LINE: Although affiliate marketing is legal, effective and commonplace, consumers are advised to be careful which internet sites they use to obtain their health insurance quotes, and to read all the disclaimers, disclosures and privacy statements on any site they are considering requesting a quote from before entering any personal or contact information.



5. Play It Safe and Use the MECH E-ZQuote to Get Your Health Insurance Quotes. We’ve eliminated the biggest risks of on-line health insurance searches:

• WE ONLY WORK WITH Maine-LICENSED HEALTH INSURANCE CARRIERS –working through us you’ll be sure to get real health insurance;



• WE ONLY WORK WITH Maine-LICENSED HEALTH INSURANCE AGENTS –working through us you’ll only receive quotes and/or be contacted by qualified, licensed health insurance agents who can help you figure our your best health insurance value; AND



• WE HAVE NO "AFFILIATE MARKETING" PROGRAMS, PERIOD - working with us you can rest assured you won’t later find yourself regretting you “granted permission” for unwanted solicitations and sales calls.

 

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