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About half of Americans have health insurance from their employer. But there are lots of small businesses, independent contractors, and freelancers who don't get insurance from an employer. Maybe you are an influencer who now makes money as a YouTuber - how can you navigate the complicated world of health insurance coverage? From small business owners to hoping-to-trend influencers, everyone wants to feel the security of help with costs if they have a medical situation.
The good news is that you have coverage options that might come with a tax credit that can be used to reduce your monthly premiums if you need to find health insurance on your own. These plans are funded through the government, and if you've ever tried to navigate a government website or program, it can be time-consuming and confusing. And that's a best-case scenario.
Saturday, February 15th
Healthinsurance.org is our top pick for finding health insurance options. Established in 1999, the website offers a wealth of information and educational resources on health insurance. It's easy to navigate and doesn't require contact information to get quotes. We're happy to give Healthinsurance.org our highest recommendation.
In the realm of government healthcare marketplaces, things typically don't run smoothly and predictably. This is not the case with Stride. The founder of this company saw a need for people who are independent contractors to have help in navigating the complicated world of insurance - health insurance coverage and beyond. He nailed it with Stride - a company that has millions of happy customers who've saved an average of about $500 a month on healthcare coverage. Stride is a brightly-colored star in a constellation of beige and vanilla health insurance coverage marketplace websites.
Healthcare Marketplace has been used by over 18 million people to shop for healthcare coverage. With its easy-to-use online platform and a painless quote process, we can see why people like it. The website is streamlined, featuring a straightforward layout that facilitates effortless navigation. You have the option to look at all kinds of plans without entering your personal contact information, or to receive plan recommendations by calling an agent. Although waiting for an agent to call back is somewhat a hassle, we still think this is an above-average pick when shopping for health insurance coverage.
Health Markets offers a visually appealing and user-friendly website that simplifies the process of selecting health insurance. The website is so easy to follow that in less than the time it takes to watch a movie, you can have chosen and enrolled in health insurance from the comfort of your own home. Health Markets boasts a network of over 3000 agents, making it effortless to speak with someone in your local area. You can also compare your current plan to see if you could get something better. However, be aware that your private data may be shared, and you may be called by other insurance agents - sometimes many times per day - if you give out any personal information on the website.
Short: New Plan Options is another option in a sea of health insurance coverage marketplaces online that offers health care plans through a database. It is owned by CMS Insurance Agency and has been a family-owned business since 1985. The company offers several different insurance types and claims to give excellent customer service. Due to a lack of current social media presence and an outdated-looking website, New Plan Options seems more stuck in the past than forward-thinking into the future of health care coverage options. It's okay, but there are better out there.
In spite of its troubled past, HealthInsurance.com is trying to come back as a transparent and honest player. With a long history in healthcare, HealthInsurance.com has built up a good repository of educational resources for consumers. However, Healthcareinsurance.com has not had enough time to prove that they can be trusted as an assistant in finding a quality and affordable healthcare plan.
Upon initial inspection, eHealth appears to be a straightforward website that assists individuals in selecting a healthcare plan. They seem to be overselling a little with their claims of "online resources,” which amount to a few outdated articles about healthcare and a customer service promise that agents will look out for the customer and do follow-up care to ensure that everyone finds the plan that fits them. There have been complaints that the company harasses people in the form of near-constant text messages and phone calls and continues to do so even after customers ask to be placed on a do-not-call list. We can't recommend eHealth as a good company to use when shopping for health insurance plans.
insuranceQuotes is owned by All Web Leads and, as such, serves as a lead generator for health and auto insurance along with other kinds of coverage. Getting a quote from insuranceQuotes means you will give your personal information away to be sold to other companies. You will receive quotes from providers, but it may not be easy to stop calls, texts, and emails from continuing from all of the third-party companies who bought your contact info from insuranceQuotes. We can't recommend this website to anyone for legitimate help in finding health insurance coverage.
Find Health Insurance is a great example of a questionable website. With no information about the company or its founders, misleading information on forms that require personal data sharing, and a bare-bones website that is nothing more than a placeholder for a form, these are all giveaways. The addition of including a graphic proclaiming an "A” rating and accreditation from the Better Business Bureau without a link to that rating appears to be a little fishy. Overall, we cannot recommend Find Health Insurance as a legitimate and safe way to find health insurance coverage.
If there's a health insurance website we'd tell you to run far away from, it would be First Quote Health. Why? This company only serves to generate leads that are shared and sold with "partner” companies. First Quote Health has not been able to show trustworthy behaviors, and we do not recommend it as a health insurance coverage finder.
Fortunately, there's good news on that front. There are a number of health insurance platforms that can help you sort through your options and get coverage. You won't pay extra for using one of these resources, and you'll often get the benefit of knowledgeable guidance from a licensed insurance agent. If you don't understand the difference between PPOs and HMOs or between deductibles and coinsurance, you should make sure you have an expert on hand to walk you through the process of picking a plan.
However, not all of these companies are made equal. While some do exactly what they say they will, others are fronts disguising lead-generating agencies. They get paid to collect your personal information, which is then sold to anyone with the cash - marketing companies, other insurance agents, health insurance providers, and who knows who else.
How can you tell which health insurance websites are legitimate? Consider the following criteria when deciding where to begin your coverage shopping:
To help you get the medical coverage you need, Top Consumer Reviews has evaluated and ranked the best resources for finding health insurance plans. We're confident that this information will make it easy to navigate the often-tricky world of healthcare and buy the right plan for your needs.
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