Health Insurance Options

Welcome to our First Friday event where we’ll be talking about Health Insurance Options with Jim Crump of US Health Advisors. Oftentimes, there can be so many different health insurance options that it can be rather confusing. 

I’m glad to have Jim here today because he has been in the health insurance business for quite some time and has a lot of great information to share with us today. 

Jim Crump 

My wife Nancy and I have been health coverage advisors for a while now, but it has gotten really confusing and if you’re not dealing with it on a regular basis, health insurance can be one of those things where you don’t know exactly what you’re getting and there’s so much vernacular and terminology built into health insurance that people get lost in the Co-insurance, and deductible, and it all just kind of becomes an alphabet soup of garbage. So it really helps to work with an advisor that will slow the process down and take the time to speak with you about your specific situation and help you find the best solution. 

What Are My Options For Health Insurance

Today I want to talk a little bit about how we work with clients before I get into the different health insurance options. 

First, I want to know what the client’s situation is and I want to make sure that the solution that we come back with for them is custom fit for what they need. I ask a lot of questions on the front end, I look at all the relevant options, and then put together a list of options and get ready to explain it and them. 

I educate the client on their best options. I don’t like to force them into one choice. 

Michelle Bertram: 

Now talking about the different health insurance options, if you’re fortunate enough to have coverage for an employer, then that’s great. 

I think in the last year even more people have found themselves asking, “What do I do for coverage?” 

You know whether it’s from changes in their job force or change it really retired or whatever, and it’s good to know. 

A couple of things I think you mentioned that I don’t think most people are aware of is the short-term insurance, and I think this is great, especially for someone who might be retiring at 64 and might just need insurance for a year.  

I was just speaking with someone earlier this week and they’re talking about retiring a year from now. They knew that they would need coverage for about four months, so the short-term coverage would be a great option for them. 

Not many people have known about it and until we talked to him, it wasn’t something that I was really aware of that that was an option. 

The other health insurance option that you covered is one that I needed to do some research on, but it is direct primary care. 

Here in my area where it is a smaller area geographically, it may or may not be something that works, but it at least is worth looking into. 

When Can I Change My Health Insurance?

Then when it comes to traditional health insurance, yes we have the marketplace, which is important to know that there is now an extension for changing plans. You’re not stuck forever and those are great if you have pre-existing conditions or things like that, but I think many people did not understand that you still can get private insurance, right? 

Jim Crump: 

Yeah, I had someone who was talking about if you have no pre-existing conditions and you’re pretty healthy, you don’t even really go to the doctor, then you need to go the route of the marketplace plans because you’re actually paying for a bunch of things you don’t need, right? 

So if anyone ever has any questions about their current coverage or just has questions about options, I’m more than happy to have a conversation with someone just to say you know what you’ve got the best deal out there. 

My goal is not to change people from what they have, it’s just to make sure that what they have is their best option. 

We’re seeing more and more where employers are covering the employee very, very well, but charging a lot to add a spouse and children. So I have been writing a lot of policies for just the add-on piece. You know the employer takes care of 93%. So we’ll write a separate policy just for them and get them great coverage and sometimes save people $300, $400, $500 a month. 

Michelle Bertram: 

Yeah, and I think you hit a couple of things or as I end on this, we often do portfolio reviews for someone right? 

Let’s just see what you have and if what you have is good, it’ll be evident. If it’s the best for you then when we do this review is going to be evident and we’re going to tell you that. 

And then you’re just going to have more confidence, right? You know you don’t have that question. 

But if what you have is not so good, or there are any issues and problems with it, then it’s really important that you know what those are. 

OK doesn’t mean we’re going to force you to change, just like in the portfolio stuff. It’s really important to me that you understand if you don’t have something good in your portfolio, why it’s not good, why it could be a problem, and I think. 

The same with health insurance. If it’s not good if it’s not covering something that there’s something missing, it’s important that the individual understands why it’s not good, and then from there you can go on to make the best path to change. 

So, if you have questions again, if you’re at that transition stage where you’re kind of retiring, maybe you need private insurance for a while, maybe it’s Medicare and you’re looking at what to do, then please reach out. 

We can schedule a call with Jim or Nancy and you know, if you’re fine and you’re listening to this and you’re like man, but I know my kids or I know my family, or my parents or whoever has questions, then share it with them because we want to make sure it’s a resource and people at least understand what their options are so.