I call this experience of obtaining health insurance as a ‘journey’ – but it really didn’t need to be! I complicated it much more than was necessary and as a result, my kids and I went without insurance for two years because of it!

Avoidance

Having always worked for corporate America, I wasn’t sure what to do about health insurance when I went into business for myself. I just figured that it was one of the risks of starting my own business. I automatically assumed the health insurance would be “too much” for me to afford, so for a while just avoided it, hoping nothing would happen.

Applying for State Programs

I started the process of applying for state programs, but even as a new entrepreneur, I still made way too much to qualify. The process of going into those state offices and having them ask to view every single piece of personal and financial information about me really creeped me out too. I just didn’t like the feeling of it all. The kids got mild, common illnesses a few times and I was able to take them to the local sliding scale clinic. But the fact that I didn’t have a long term solutions was really bothering me.

The ‘Do It Myself’ Plan

Next I went online and tried to build a plan. I do just about everything online so I figured that I may as well buy my health insurance online too. Except that once I got past the application and had to start choosing plans – I was overwhelmed with choices. I saw a lot of plans and a lot of options… but what I wanted to know was – what plans to OTHER people like me have? What’s the best choice?

The Solution

I had been hesitant to fill out a contact form online because I didn’t want 10 insurance agents from 10 different companies calling me over the next week. As someone with a background in internet marketing, I knew that many of those sites online were lead generation pages for multiple companies. Instead, I found the website of 1 insurance agency in California that offered BCBS and filled out their contact form.

The agent contacted me the next day and within 10 minutes – she had found a plan just for me and my kids that was going to cost me $200 less than the plan I had created for myself online! She had a feeling that by obtaining separate policies for me and each of my kids, that I could save more than putting us all together – and she was right! I would have never thought to do that! I even got dental!

The plan she put me on was the same one she had put her own niece on. That gave me some real peace of mind and added that ‘human element’ that was missing online.

That’s my story about my quest to find health insurance. I know there are a lot of people out there that are just like me and I hope this helps! My advice is to find a professional that offers a trusted name brand product and let THEM figure out what is best for you! Insurance policies are so complicated and good agents know more about them than I would ever care to know!

Tags: Health Insurance //