Individual & Family Medical Insurance
is an insurance hub that helps consumers find affordable individual health insurance plans and family health insurance quotes for free. This includes private and family medical insurance coverage, as well as personal medical insurance for self-employed individuals. Whether you’re looking for a free family health insurance quote or information on personal health insurance for the self-employed, you are sure to find everything you need at unifirstinsurance.com
Individual Medical Insurance Overview
What is individual & family medical insurance?
Individual, or family, health insurance is also commonly known as personal health insurance or private health insurance. Most insurance companies offering this product will refer to it as individual health insurance. Family health insurance, where you, your spouse and your children are all on the same plan, is still referred to as an individual health plan. This is the type of policy you would purchase for yourself and your family if your employer does not provide insurance benefits to its employees. You may also consider family medical insurance if you are self-employed, unemployed or a student. Individual and family health insurance plans are available for newborns on up to the seniors at age 65. Once a person turns 65, they become eligible for Medicare and Medicare supplemental insurance, and must forfeit their individual medical insurance policy.
We are committed to helping you meet all of your family and personal health insurance needs. We offer access to more sources of individual and family health insurance quotes and most-affordable individual health insurance plans. Requesting a free personal health insurance quote and making plan comparisons from multiple sources is the best way to find private medical insurance coverage that meets your needs and budget.
Individual, or family, health insurance is also commonly known as personal health insurance or private health insurance. Most insurance companies offering this product will refer to it as individual health insurance. Family health insurance, where you, your spouse and your children are all on the same plan, is still referred to as an individual health plan. This is the type of policy you would purchase for yourself and your family if your employer does not provide insurance benefits to its employees. You may also consider family medical insurance if you are self-employed, unemployed or a student. Individual and family health insurance plans are available for newborns on up to the seniors at age 65. Once a person turns 65, they become eligible for Medicare and Medicare supplemental insurance, and must forfeit their individual medical insurance policy.
5 categories of Marketplace insurance plans
When you compare Marketplace insurance plans, they’re put into 5 categories based on how you and the plan can expect to share the costs of care:
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Bronze
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Silver
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Gold
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Platinum
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Catastrophic
All Marketplace insurance plan categories offer the same set of essential health benefits. The categories do not reflect the quality or amount of care the plans provide.
The category you choose affects how much your premium costs each month and what portion of the bill you pay for things like hospital visits or prescription medications. It also affects your total out-of-pocket costs —the total amount you’ll spend for the year if you need lots of care.
The maximum out-of-pocket costs for any Marketplace plan for 2014 are $6,350 for an individual plan and $12,700 for a family plan.
Note: Catastrophic plans – which have very high deductibles and essentially provide protection from worst-case scenarios, like a serious accident or extended illness — are available to people under 30 years old and to people who have hardship exemptions from the fine that most people without health coverage must pay.
Balancing monthly premiums with out-of-pocket costs
As with all health plans, you’ll have to pay a monthly premium. But it’s also important to know how much you have to pay out-of-pocket for services when you get care.
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Premiums are usually higher for plans that pay more of your out-of-pocket medical costs when you get care. For example, if you have a Gold plan, you’ll likely pay a higher premium, but may have lower costs when you go to the doctor or use another medical service.
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With a Bronze plan, you’ll likely pay a lower premium, but you’ll pay a higher share of costs when you get care.
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Platinum plans will likely have the highest monthly premiums and lowest out-of-pocket costs. The plan will pay more of the costs if you need a lot of medical care.
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In general, when choosing your health plan, keep this in mind: the lower the premium, the higher the out-of-pocket costs when you need care; the higher the premium, the lower the out-of-pocket costs when you need care.
What to consider when choosing your plan
Think about the health care needs of your household when considering which Marketplace insurance plan to buy.
Do you expect a lot of doctor visits or need regular prescriptions?
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If you do, you may want a Gold or Platinum plan.
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If you don’t, you may prefer a Bronze or Silver plan. But keep in mind that if you get in a serious accident or have an unexpected health problem, Bronze and Silver plans will require you to pay more of the costs.
How do I choose a health plan?
It can be overwhelming to find the right health insurance plan for you and your family. Before you get started, it is important to understand another big change happening in health insurance. As of 2014, most health insurance newly sold to individuals and small businesses must be classified as one of the four levels of coverage: Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum. In addition to those four levels of coverage, a minimum coverage plan is available to those who are younger than 30 or can provide certification that they are without affordable coverage or are experiencing hardship.
How much does health insurance cost?
Many people who want health insurance are concerned about the cost. Individuals seeking health coverage may get help to afford it in three different ways:
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Medi-Cal assistance: California has expanded its Medicaid program (called Medi-Cal in California). It covers people under age 65, including people with disabilities, with incomes of $15,856 or less for a single individual and $32,499 or less for a family of four. The coverage is free for those who qualify and is part of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act.
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Premium Assistance: Premium assistance is available from the federal government to help reduce the cost of health coverage for individuals and families who meet certain income requirements and who do not have affordable health insurance from an employer or a government program that meets minimum coverage requirements. When you enroll in a health insurance plan through Covered California, premium assistance can be immediately applied, which reduces the amount you pay each month. To find out more about premium assistance and how the sliding scale works based on your income, try the Shop and Compare Tool
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Cost-sharing subsidies: Cost-sharing subsidies reduce the out-of-pocket amount of health care expenses an individual or family has to pay. These expenses might include copayments for health care services or other costs you pay when you get services.
How much does individual medical health insurance cost?
The premiums that are charged for individual health insurance plans are based on several factors. These include your zip code, your age, your health status and your lifestyle habits. For instance, smokers will typically pay more for personal health insurance than non-smokers, as will people that are overweight or have pre-existing conditions. Persons that are charged a higher premium are subject to this rate adjustment because the insurance company views them as a higher risk. Once you are covered under an family medical insurance policy, you may not be singled out for a rate increase based on claims history. If the private health insurance company increases your rate, it must increase the rates of all existing plan members covered under the same family health insurance plan. In addition, the insurance company may not cancel your coverage for excessive claims. However, unless you have an HMO plan, your policy will have a maximum annual and maximum lifetime benefit. If your claims exceed the maximum lifetime benefit as defined in your health plan policy, the insurance company may legally cease paying benefits toward any further medical treatments. When this occurs, your policy terminates and you cease making payments for the plan and must find another carrier willing to insure you.
Group Health Insurance Information Overview
It has been reported that over 60% of the U.S. population that has health insurance receives their health care coverage through an employer-sponsored group health insurance plan. Although the health insurance regulations may vary considerably from state to state, there are definite advantages to obtaining your health insurance coverage through an employer using large or small business health insurance plans. In fact, many employees will report that the most important benefit offered to them through their job is health insurance. Companies throughout the U.S. spend billions of dollars annually for health insurance, making up the majority of the revenues that are earned by the health insurance companies.
In recent years, companies have seen a dramatic increase in the cost of providing health care benefits to their employees. This is primarily due to the rising cost of health care and prescription drugs. Because of these ever increasing insurance premiums, many companies have been forced to reduce the benefits offered to employees under their group health insurance plans. This increases the out-of-pocket expenses that are paid by the employee when they require medical treatment or prescription drugs. Some companies are even requiring their employees to pay a higher share of the monthly premium or requiring them to pay 100% of their dependent premiums. The number of corporations that offer full premium payment for an employee and his dependents are decreasing annually.
Benefits for Employer and Employee
Many Americans are forced to remain employed by a company solely because of the health coverage offered by that employer due to lack of group medical insurance information or knowledge. This is more commonly the case if an employee depends on the benefits due to a pre-existing condition that might prevent them from obtaining individual health insurance. In many cases, these employees are willing to work for a lesser wage in order to maintain these benefits. They may be able to find employment with another company that offers similar health insurance benefits, but the waiting periods for their pre-existing condition or even just switching health insurance companies may create a risk that they are not willing to take. Companies that offer comprehensive health insurance to their employees typically have a lower turn-over rate in staff because of this dependency on health care coverage. In fact, the two primary reasons that employers offer health insurance are to attract qualified employees and reduce their turn-over rates.
Affordable Group Health Insurance Rates & Options
Affordable group health insurance rates, in most states, are available to any company that has two or more employees. The eligibility requirements may vary geographically and most companies that are applying for large or small group health insurance plans will need to verify the legitimacy of their business operations, however, this is not necessary for the purpose of obtaining health insurance quotes.
The number of employees insured under the group health plan may also determine the types of coverage available to the employer, as well as the per-employee premium. Usually, a company with between 2 to 50 employees is classified as a small business and may offer small business health insurance plans. Many companies have thousands of employees and will have health plans customized for them by a health insurance carrier. Many of these customized plans may include additional benefits that would be excluded from standard issue policies normally included in the small business health insurance plans. Some large corporations may choose to self-insure and only use the insurance carrier to administer the health plans and benefits. This is done by placing a sizeable bond with their state and pulling from this account to pay medical claims via the administrating health insurance carrier. In doing so, the company is assuming the risk of major medical claims and acting as the insurer.
Most health insurance companies in the U.S. will have three classification levels based on the number of enrolled employees on the health plan: 1) small group, 2) mid-size group, or 3) large group. Although the number of employees that are required to fall into a specific category may be determined by the insurance company or by state legislation, there are common standards for these classifications.
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