Individual & Family Health Insurance

Individual health insurance policies often times offer significant savings compared to employer group plans. The reason for this are threefold:

1. In a group plan, everyone is accepted regardless of pre-existing conditions. Therefore the healthy subsidize the unhealthy. In an individual plan, you are underwritten based upon your age, smoking status, health, build, and medical history. Since the insurance company has less risk because of this underwriting process, premiums are most often significantly less. (Please note: if your employer offers a group health plan, they must contribute at least 50% of your premium cost. There is no requirement for them to contribute towards your spouse or children's premium. Therefore, to obtain the best value for your family, you may need to stay on your employer's plan and shop rates for your spouse and children.)


2. In a group plan, maternity is a State of Florida mandated benefit. Even if you've had a tubal ligation and a hysterectomy and live in a convent, as a woman of child-bearing age, your rates will be much higher than a male of the same age to reflect maternity cost. Therefore women with no interest in having children in the near future will obtain much better rates with an individual/family health insurance plan.


3. In most group plans, you pay the same premium regardless of the number of children you insure. I find that four children is usually the "break even number". For families with just one or two children, it is definitely worthwhile to compare prices of individual plans versus putting them on your plan through work.

It is our inherent belief that people should have choices. Therefore, in almost all cases, you will receive quotes from three different insurance companies. Companies that will be compared to determine which offer the best value for you and/or your family are: United Healthcare (United HealthOne, Golden Rule), Aetna, AARP, Avalon Healthcare, Cigna, Coventry Healthcare, and Humana. Which company is best for you/your family will depend upon many variables, such as: age, gender, smoking status, medications used, health history, build, and residence zip code. We take time to guide you through the options to determine the best value for your insurance needs. Each week we spend a great deal of time demonstrating the benefits of spending less money on health insurance.