How Do I Get Medical Insurance?

If you do not get medical insurance through an employer or through a professional or other group, you can apply for a plan yourself. Even though health insurance may seem confusing and difficult to navigate, it doesn’t have to be. Keep reading for some tips and tricks to finding medical insurance plans and enrolling without the headache.

Overview of the types of medical insurance plans

If you are looking for medical insurance, you will need to make some decisions. First, you need to decide if you want:

1. An individual plan to cover just yourself
2. A family plan to cover yourself, your spouse, and/or your children
3. A small-business plan for yourself (or for yourself and your family) and for your employees (or for your employees and their families) if you have a business with at least one full-time employee (not including your spouse)
4. Short-term health insurance, which allows you a minimal amount of coverage but often costs significantly less than other options for medical insurance
5. Critical illness and accident insurance, which provides extra protection as a supplement to major medical insurance.

The second decision you need to make is whether you want to get insurance that is:

1. An Obamacare plan, also called an ACA plan or a Marketplace plan, or
2. A private plan that is outside the Marketplace.

Making these decisions may seem overwhelming at first. It is much easier when you can see all the relevant information in the same place, so that you can compare different types of plans with each other and see at a glance which has the best benefits for you at the lowest cost.

The best way to compare plans

You may not know if an Obamacare plan or a private plan will be the best choice for you. The answer is different for everyone and depends on your healthcare needs, your income, and your budget. The best way to make that choice is to compare the Obamacare and private plans that are available for you to each other at the same time. eHealth will show you different plans you are eligible for that are offered by both Obamacare and private insurers. This makes the decision process much easier. You can compare quotes from all the plans and then apply for coverage in the same place.

You can buy both private and Obamacare plans at eHealth

It’s a common misconception that you can only buy Obamacare plans on the government Marketplace sites. That’s not true. You can buy Obamacare plans from a licensed insurance broker like eHealth.  These are exactly the same plans at exactly the same price.  Medical insurance plan premiums and costs are the same no matter where you buy your insurance. That’s true for both private and Obamacare plans.
Given that the costs are the same, there are several advantages to buying medical insurance through eHealth:

1. The Marketplace sites are confusing and difficult to navigate. The eHealth site is user-friendly and simple to navigate.
2. The eHealth site lets you directly compare Obamacare and private plans.
3. eHealth may have medical insurance plans in your area that are not available on the Marketplace sites.
4. eHealth has a greater variety of types of medical insurance plans available, including short-term and supplementary plans.
5. If you ever have any questions when you shop for plans or apply for coverage at eHealth, you can call our helpful agents for assistance.

Shopping for individual or family medical insurance does not have to be difficult. If you have ever tried to apply for coverage through a Marketplace site, you will appreciate the simplicity and ease of using eHealth to find and purchase insurance. If this is the first time you have applied for insurance on your own, eHealth will give you all the information you need to make the best informed choice.