Health Insurance Quotes

When you apply for health insurance quotes on the healthcare marketplace, it’s important to know what you should expect to pay. HealthcareQuotes.com used their database of multiple healthcare plans from the major health insurance carriers to compile this list of what you could expect when applying for a new plan in your area. HealthcareQuotes also compiled a list of the most popular plans and pricing regions so that you can compare apples to apples before making your purchase or switch.

This blog post will give insight into how much different types of plans can cost and how they could impact your wallet when considering switching plans, or on the flip side, purchasing a new plan altogether.

1. Blue Cross Blue Shield

We start off the discussion with a blue blood: Blue Cross. They are one of the largest and most respected insurance companies in the US healthcare market. In fact, we’re not even sure if that company has had a complete name change in all these years, as we’re just going to call them BCBS throughout this discussion.

BCBS is primarily known for offering plans nationwide across nearly all states, while concentrating on certain regions such as Florida, California and Texas. They are one of our largest carriers and also one of our least expensive based on plan allowances and average prices per month.

They have the lowest monthly premiums, second only to Aetna, and a very low deductible of $250. This plan does not come with any additional cost-sharing requirements or caps.

This plan is available in 2 different regions: Texas Region 1 (TX1) and Texas Region 3 (TX3). You can contact BCBS for more information about this plan by visiting the link below: https://www.bcbshealthplans.com/plans/details/tx-1-health-insurance-plan

This plan gives you access to a large number of hospitals nationwide, and many health insurance companies that are contracted to offer coverage through Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.

This plan will cost you around $200 a month before any discounts are applied. The good news is that if you use HealthcareQuotes.com to get your health insurance quotes, you may qualify for a discount of nearly 25% off the monthly premium price!

2. Cigna

Cigna is one of the largest health insurance companies in the country, and while they aren’t as large as BCBS or United Health Group, they still have a strong presence in certain regions of the country. Despite their smaller size, they are still able to compete with BCBS and other carriers on pricing and plan selections available.

A common misconception about Cigna is that they only offer travel health insurance, or that they only offer the bare-bones policies. They’re far from being a bare bones plan!

This plan allows you to choose many of the same hospitals and medical doctors that BCBS offers, as well as offering nearly identical premiums and deductibles. Because their premiums are lower than BCBS, they typically have the lowest monthly prices of all the health insurance companies in this list. Summary: The average monthly premium for a single person is $125, which means you’ll be paying around $5 per month less with Cigna than with BCBS.

This plan is available in the following regions: New York City, New York Metro Region (NYC), Chicago Metro Region (IL), Kansas City Metro Region (KS), Boston Metro Region (MA) and Western region California-Nevada-Utah.

3. United Healthcare

We’ll start with the big guy. It’s hard to miss this one, given it’s the largest insurer on HealthcareQuotes.com, and they have their sights set on expanding further into other states such as Texas and Florida.

They are rated among the top health insurance companies in America by many publications such as Consumer Reports and are very popular among consumers for all kinds of reasons. They are also the largest in Texas, and are growing at a rapid pace.

We’ll start with the plan itself: United Healthcare offers similar policies to BCBS (same provider network, same premium cost), however their deductibles and caps are lower than BCBS at $250. They also have an average price point of $181 per month for a single person. Note that this is slightly higher than our review of the BCBS benefits for 2014.

They also offer a Silver discount for as little as $145 per month. This plan is available in the following regions: Florida, New York Metro Region, Ohio and New Jersey.

4. Cigna

For those of you who want to stay with the United Healthcare family, please note that there are two other options for your consideration: (1) Cigna; and (2) Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS for short). Cigna and BCBS are both subsidiaries of United Healthcare, but they operate completely independently from each other.

Cigna was founded in 1792 and was one of the first health insurance companies to offer coverage throughout Europe. In 2009 Anthem Blue Cross merged with BCBS, creating one large subsidiary for United Healthcare. Both of these carriers continue to operate independently today.

This plan costs $179 per month for a single person and allows you access to the same provider network that United Healthcare uses. The main difference is the deductibles with Cigna, which is $500 (compared to United Healthcare’s $250 deductible), however there are also significant differences between them when it comes to coverage limits, caps and co-pays. This plan is available in 2 regions: TX1 (Texas) and TX3 (Texas).

5. Blue Advantage

Blue Advantage is the third largest health insurance company on HealthcareQuotes.com in the state of Texas for 2014. They offer coverage via both a PPO and an HMO network, and are a very strong provider of dental plans as well as vision plans.

They have a strong online reputation for being one of the most affordable national carriers in America, and that is also the case for their health plans (which are available to nearly everyone in Texas). They have competitive premiums, low deductibles ($250) and reasonable out-of-pocket caps. This plan is available in the following regions: TX1 (Texas), TX2 (Texas) and TX3 (Texas).

6. Humana

Again, we start with the big guys! Humana is one of the largest international health insurance companies in America and they are frequently tied to some of the most respected names on healthcare. Some of biggest players in major industries, such as Coca-Cola, BMW and Procter & Gamble have all partnered with Humana to provide health insurance for their employees.

The company has strong relationships with many reputable hospitals and physicians that allow them to offer a fairly comprehensive network along with their own preferred providers within each region.

Conclusion

When choosing an individual health insurance plan, it’s always important to make sure you are getting a good value for your money. HealthcareQuotes.com offers quotes from some of the largest and most reputable insurers in America, with options such as BCBS, Cigna and Humana being some of the most popular.

Understanding your coverage needs and understanding your premium cost is key to making sure you have the right plan for you. For example, if you don’t need maternity coverage but birth control is very important to you, it might not be worth paying for a more expensive plan just to get coverage for maternity benefits if they aren’t something you need.