Guide To Finding The Top 3 Individual Health Insurance Providers

If your employer does not provide you with a group health insurance plan or if the plan offered to you does not suit your needs, you need not fret. There are many options available to you in the market. One of the options you may want to look into is getting an individual health insurance plan from a private provider. Before you start applying for a plan, you will have to first narrow down your options to about 3. Otherwise, you would simply go bonkers with the hundreds of options out there. Here is a basic guide on how you can narrow down your choices.

How Do You Find The Top 3 Individual Health Insurance Providers?

Step 1 - Know your needs

Make a list of your needs. Take note of any pre-existing health conditions that you may have. Decide on the highest deductible that you can afford. See if you drop any cover that you may not need such as maternity and doctor visits. Once you have finalised your list, you will be more aware of the coverage that you require.

Step 2 - Make a list of health insurance companies in your state

Find out all the health insurance companies in your state. 

Step 3 - Do your research on the health insurance providers

Conduct the following checks on every provider in your list.
Go to Better Business Bureau and read up on any complaints made against the provider. Find out if the provider has dealt with the complaint efficiently and if the solution had helped the insurer.
Search online for reviews on each provider. Here is an example of what you may type in the search box: "United Health One" + reviews
If you are not pleased with the reviews or write-ups, strike off the provider from your list.

Step 4 - Compare!

Now that you've narrowed down your list to a few reliable and reputable health insurance providers, it is time to start comparing. Compare the benefits and limitations, terms and conditions, costs, coverage and customer service of the remaining few providers in your list. To guide you through this process, use your list of needs and required coverage prepared earlier.

A very useful medium you can use to compare the above is the Internet. There are websites that only require you to key in your information and you'll be provided with an online comparison of some of the above features in a single table. By this point, you should have about 3 individual health insurance providers in your list. These are the top 3 providers who meet your requirements best. Once you know who they are, you can then proceed to apply for an individual health insurance plan from the provider you like most.