Illinois Family Health Insurance
Searching for Illinois family health insurance can be easy if done the right way. The state of Illinois is great because of the many different insurance companies that offer coverage. Here is a quick step by step guide with some practical advice on how to find Illinois health insurance for your family that is both affordable and comprehensive.
STEP 1: Research your company’s health care plan. (Obviously, if you are self-employed or are employed in a company that does not offer health care benefits then you can skip to step 2 otherwise read on). A good rule of thumb is that if your employer is offering to pay all or almost all of your monthly premium cost to join their group health plan then you should take the free money and join the group plan.
However, there are a few important considerations:
Is the group health plan from a reputable company? Blue Cross and Blue Shield of IL, UniCare, Aetna, United Healthcare and some other nationally known companies are all dependable companies – be wary of any small fly by night companies that you have never heard of. You way want to research the company with the Illinois Department of Insurance.
Will your employer pay the premiums for your spouse and children or just for you – the employee? Many employers will only cover the employee’s portion of the premium if the entire family opts in for the group health plan and since group health insurance rates are much higher than individual health insurance rates because of the differences in underwriting then you could be looking at a huge monthly expense for the company group health insurance plan. A good thing to do in this situation is for you as an employee to remain on the company plan and then to shop around for an individual health insurance plan for your spouse and kids as the rates will be much cheaper. For simplicity’s sake you might even want to choose an individual plan from the same insurance company that provides your group plan at work that way the entire family is on the same network and with the same company.
STEP 2 Determine how healthy your family is. The reason that Illinois individual health insurance rates are so much cheaper than Illinois group health insurance rates is because with group health insurance everyone is accepted where on the individual side one must be relatively healthy to be accepted. You can receive the same comprehensive benefits and many of the same plan designs with deductible levels, copays, coinsurance, preventative benefits, etc. with individual health insurance as with group health insurance – the rates are just much cheaper if you are approved.
STEP 3 Compare Illinois family health insurance quotes from at least 3 different insurance companies. The important thing to keep in mind is that all health insurance is exactly the same until you actually have to use it so be sure and choose a well know and reputable insurance company that you can depend on. Use our free quote matching service to find Illinois health insurance quotes in your zip code!