East Coast Health Insurance
East Coast Health Insurance is the premier national health insurance brokerage offering great service and individual attention. Many companies and web sites claim they sell health insurance when instead they are selling your personal information. East Coast Health Insurance would never do that; we are here to help you with all your health insurance needs.
Nationwide Health Insurance Quotes
Call Us Now 888-803-5917
You will receive instant, affordable health insurance quotes from all major national and regional health insurance companies right on this website with plans that can be purchased privately and securely. East Coast Health Insurance guarantees it. Once you select a plan you will be directed to that company’s secure site to finish your application securely and in compliance with HIPAA laws.
2011 Health Insurance Updates
Are you confused by the health care reform bill that just passed? Well you are not alone; unfortunately, many of the politicians that passed it don’t understand it either. However, we can help you sort through all of the options that the new bill gives you as they become available. Keep in mind that this bill does not go into effect until 2014, does not make coverage available to everyone, nor does it lower premiums. But you can continue to rely on us to navigate this increasingly complex market.
Overview of Health Insurance Reform Changes
As of 1/1/2011 the new changes in health insurance include:
The caps on lifetime benefit limits being removed – Effects everyone with lifetime limits when plans renew in 2011. This is for people that had lifetime maximum benefits of say $2 or $5 million; they will now have unlimited plans.
Children’s health insurance – Insurers cannot deny children under age 19 for medical conditions and they must allow families to keep adult children on plan till age 26 without constraints.
The Medical Loss Ratios on health insurance only affects health insurance companies and health insurance brokers but if you are interested, basically it means that 80% of expenditures must now be on health care costs and only 20% can be towards administration (including broker commissions) whereas before there were no such ratios.
High Risk Pools - In order to qualify for these outrageously expensive plans you must have been declined by a health insurance company and uninsured for 6 months. Thus the enrollment for these plans has been very low.
Keep in mind that in 2010 families saw health costs increase 14% before the passage of these new rules. It will be interesting to see the 2011 effects on premiums.
As of 9/23/2010 there have been some major changes to health care under this current administration. Hopefully for most people these changes are positive, and here they are:
1. Effective immediately all new medical plans must give parents the right to leave their unmarried dependents on their health insurance; these premiums cannot be higher than any other dependent on the policy. Older plans will update on their renewal date, or sooner if the carrier decides.
2. Preventative care – There are no longer co-pays or deductible requirements for checkups or breast cancer screenings, annual blood-work etc. Sadly, old, grandfathered plans are exempt.
3. Insurers must cover children’s preexisting medical condition. However they are not forced to accept children (this is misinformation) and many are actually no longer offering child-only policies to avoid this on the individual side.
4. No more rescissions! This is great news though you might still get nabbed for leaving information off of applications by the insurer refusing claims.
5. The client can pick their own doctors from the list of approved plan providers. Most companies already followed this so it is not significant.
6. A favorite here at East Coast: No additional or higher co-payments required for emergency room when out-of-network. Grandfathered plans are also exempt here.
7. No more lifetime maximums on policies. (There may be an exception for mini-meds; however, East Coast Health Insurance doesn’t recommend these for anyone except travelers.) This will be phased in: currently at $750,000 for all employer plans and new individual plans; rising to $1.25 million after Sept. 23 of 2011, and then to $2 million the following September.
East Coast Health Insurance, a Leading Authority on Medical Insurance Quotes
If you are doing research on anything related to health insurance, rest assured that you came to the right place. As you can see from the extensive navigation tabs all around, we have answered every question we could think of about health insurance only to find out that this job is never done. We update this site daily with the latest health insurance news and answers to your questions. This website has over 4,000 pages, but is organized very clearly. Think of this website as 51 mini websites on health insurance: one national health insurance site (where you are right now) and 50 state health insurance sites. Right now you are in the national health insurance section on the homepage, but each state has its own mini-home page as well.
This section is a broad national perspective on not just health insurance and health plans, but also national government health programs, national health insurance laws, and health insurance reviews. If your current insurance company isn’t here, just go to the corresponding state section where the company is located and you will find it there. The only companies that we don’t cover extensively are companies that we wouldn’t buy for ourselves or our family. Thus, if your insurance carrier is not mentioned on this site, you might want to start shopping and you should start by running a custom health insurance quote.
What We Do For You
We are the most trusted name in online health insurance quotes, and we only sell the plans that we would have on ourselves. We are standing by at 888-803-5917 to answer all of your questions about health insurance. Even if East Coast Health Insurance did not sell you the policy or if you have a question that isn’t related to buying a new health insurance policy, we will answer it and help you as much as we can for no charge. We will always get you coverage even if you don’t qualify for an individual or group plan through our large knowledge base of all the public health plans and government programs to assist you in your search for health coverage.
Don’t take a chance on a small company or some affiliate marketing company that sells your information to other companies. Many other companies will only offer products that benefit them and not you, while we carry only approved companies that are selected based on our very tough criteria.
We tell it like it as well, and our reviews and recommendations are based on what is best for you, not for East Coast Health Insurance. We pride ourselves on honesty and doing the right thing, we will answer all of your questions about Medicaid, KidCare, and any subject that we can. All of our brokers are extremely knowledgeable about the ins and outs of Cobra, HIPAA, and all of your options, just when you think you don’t have any left. We will get you coverage, because we believe that health insurance is a right, not a privilege.
Navigating Our Health Insurance Website
On the right-hand side navigation you can find your respective home state, where we have painstakingly indexed all the available plans and reviewed them. Additionally, we have cataloged every government health program in your state and provided their contact information for everyone. Our individual state sections also include sample health insurance quotes broken down by city and region, to highlight the most affordable health plans in your city and state.
Our health insurance quote engine can be used to compare your current health insurance plan to the other companies that we represent. Across the country our national health insurance companies include Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield (in nearly every state!), Cigna, Coventry, Humana, and United Health Care.
East Coast Health Insurance also has many other health insurance plans that are available in your state and these local companies can be found by clicking on your home state’s health insurance web page on the right.
East state is also broken up into separate sections including laws, government health programs, the health insurance companies available in that particular state, and sample health insurance quotes and premium comparisons by city.
All of this information can be very handy, but in 90% of cases, most people visiting East Coast Health Insurance online should simply run a no- obligation, free health insurance quote. Here you will find all of the plans available in your city and you can even apply online safely, and securely from home.
How To Buy Health Insurance
On this website we also offer articles on nearly every aspect of health insurance and the bulk of our articles will either fall into the health insurance education section or in the health insurance law section. Additionally each state has its own section (or will have it soon enough) on health insurance education, health insurance laws, and government health plan resources, as well as the national overviews of these topics.
If you don’t currently have a health insurance policy, then we can get you quotes with every reputable medical insurance company in the United States. East Coast Health Insurance also offers health insurance quotes with every type of individual, family, and group health insurance plan from the new Health Savings Account plans (HSAs) to the more traditional HMO, PPO and POS plans. We also stay abreast of the latest developments in the health insurance market and offer the newest individual health insurance companies and plans to the individual and group health insurance market. You can also call us and speak to any of our trained and licensed agents at 888-803-5917.
Again if you have read this far, we recommend filling out our quote page, to see which health insurance plans are available in your part of the country, and what news plans are in your price range (such as the very interesting Tonik plans also from Blue Cross Blue Shield). Just click on any of our health insurance quotes buttons or links and you will see all of the major health insurance companies in your state instantly. You are also welcome to call our agents who are standing by from 9-9 daily to answer your questions, and they are trained to help you find a plan, or tell you what to do next if you qualify for government assistance.
Additionally if you are frustrated by Medicaid or a County Health Plan, our agents are trained in helping you sort through the Government Aid programs available in your state.
Health Insurance Education 101
This section includes a useful health insurance glossary, a frequently asked question section, and even sections on smoking and its effect on health insurance premiums so make sure to visit our entire website for great, free health insurance information tips for shopping for medical coverage in your state.
How do I pick a plan after getting a health insurance quote?
If you have a choice of plans through your employer or you are purchasing your own coverage, it’s important to understand your choices and pick the plan that is right for you and your family. There are several questions to ask yourself when reviewing health insurance plan options:
- How affordable is the cost of care?
- How much are monthly health insurance premiums?
- How much are the deductibles?
- Are the co-payments or co-insurance flat fees or percentages of service fees?
- What out-of-pocket expenses have to be paid before the plan begins reimbursement?
- How does the reimbursement process work?
- What is the cost of out-of-network care?
Does the plan cover the services that I may use? For example:
- Doctors, hospitals, laboratories and other health insurance network professionals
- Out-of-network care
- Treatments for pre-existing medical conditions or chronic conditions
- Prescription drugs
What is the quality of the health insurance plan? Research factors of the plan such as:
- Ratings of the plan by independent government and non-government organizations
- Accreditation from groups like the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) or the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO)
- Patient complaints
- Member drop-out rates for the plan
- Other patient experiences with the plan
- Doctor experiences with the plan
