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I've been in your shoes and I empathize. In fact, I was in your shoes just a few days ago when I applied for insurance. The rates here are "representative" and
by gurgeous 15y ago
I've been in your shoes and I empathize. In fact, I was in your shoes just a few days ago when I applied for insurance. The rates here are "representative" and I tried to add disclaimers in the obvious places. The rates are similar to what you see if you check with your state's insurance commissioner. Most states require the health insurance companies to publicly disclose those rates.
Of course, they can still mess with you and they won't hesitate to do so if they think they can't make money at this price. There's no way to find out the final rate without completing the entire application process. In that respect it's similar to auto insurance.
PickHealthInsurance still has a lot of utility compared to existing sites, though.
You can get often get the advertised rates, but not always. In Washington State for example, you can get these rates if you're running out of COBRA and you've been covered continuously. They aren't allowed to ask questions.
I don't think there's a magic bullet, unfortunately. Suggestions welcome.
- tptacek 15y agoAre you sure Washington State is that simple? I don't live there and only spent a few moments researching, but I don't see that WA has guaranteed issue with continuous coverage. It does seem to have guaranteed renewal, but that locks you into one insurer, doesn't it?
- gurgeous 15y agoHere we have something called the Standard Health Questionnaire (SHQ), which they make you fill out when applying for insurance. But there are a bunch of exceptions at the top which make it possible to avoid submitting the SHQ. Running out of COBRA is one of those exceptions.
- LogicHoleFlaw 15y agoThis is exactly how it worked for me when my COBRA coverage expired and I lived in WA. Bypassing the SHQ was key to getting reasonable rates for myself.
- rdl 15y agoWashington is actually pretty good relative to any other state I've seen. If you avoid SHQ through previous coverage, especially post-Obama changes (getting rid of lifetime limits), buying health insurance IS fairly straightforward. Even with the SHQ, it seems deterministic.