Health insurance in Florida has become something that every Florida resident needs and yet something that very few understand. Affordable and comprehensive health insurance in Florida should not be confusing, uncertain, or difficult to obtain. However, at times this is case because the Florida health insurance market is saturated with many different insurance companies, insurance policies, and enough convoluted features to make your head spin.
RELAX! Shopping for health insurance in Florida does not have to be a long and drawn out, mind–numbing chore. Let’s take a look at a few basic principles of health insurance in Florida, do a little research and then find an affordable and comprehensive Florida health insurance policy that is just right for you and your family!
You will notice a few lines above that we are looking for “affordable and comprehensive” health insurance in Florida. So for the same reason that most people don’t purchase the cheapest possible car that they can find we are not going to be fooled into purchasing a Florida health insurance policy based solely on price. Just as you want a car that is just the right mixture of affordability and features/protection/reliability, etc. we want to find a Florida health insurance policy that has just the right mixture of affordability and features/protection/reliability as well.
First of all, let’s take a look at a few things that are NOT considered adequate health insurance in Florida. Discount health plans are not insurance! In fact, simply type into any major search engine, “Discount health plan warning” and take a look at all of the government warnings that pop up telling consumers to beware of discount health plans. If it sounds too good to be true then it probably is.
Also, not quite as bad as a Florida discount health plan but still far from comprehensive coverage is a Florida health insurance policy that is either an indemnity style policy or a policy that has calendar year limits. An indemnity policy is a health insurance policy that uses a method of paying out benefits based on a “predetermined, fixed rate set for the medical services provided, regardless of the actual expenses incurred.”
In other words, let’s say that you have a hospital bill that amounts to $100,000 (not unreasonable by any stretch of the imagination these days) and in the fine print of your Florida indemnity health insurance policy contract it states that they will pay an indemnity benefit of $5,000 maximum for any given hospital benefit - then guess what? You are stuck with a $95,000 bill! As you can imagine the potential for abuse with an indemnity health insurance policy is enormous.
The third type of health insurance in Florida is a health insurance policy that has a calendar year limit. This is a step up from an indemnity policy but it is still far from comprehensive. A calendar year limits means exactly what it says. Rather than capping your benefit based on the procedure as in an indemnity policy a policy with a calendar year limit will only pay benefits in total for any given year up to a certain benefit amount. After you reach that level it is as if you do not have health insurance for the rest of the year.
For example, we will use the same scenario as above with you receiving a $100,000 hospital bill in the mail. If your health insurance policy has a calendar year limit of $75,000 then you are stuck with a bill of $25,000 to personally foot and your policy will not pay out any more benefits to you until January 1st of the following year. Not the kind of news that you want to receive as you are recuperating from whatever ailment placed you in the hospital in the first place (hopefully not a heart attack).
Ok, so we know now to avoid the discount health plans, the indemnity style policies, and the policies with calendar year limits. Let’s take a look at some good strong companies that offer health insurance in Florida.
The “Big 3” health insurance companies in Florida are Golden Rule/United Healthcare, Aetna, and Humana. Each of these Florida health insurance companies offer at least $3,000,000 of coverage per person with no calendar year limits and no indemnity style features. Each of these companies have a “maximum out of pocket” cost for you for any given year so that you and your family can budget for any given year and know that no matter what happens (even if hospital bills approach 6 or even 7 figures!) you will never pay more than the maximum out of pocket cost in any given year.
This maximum out of pocket cost varies between the 3 companies and depends on the plan chosen (you can compare all of the different maximum out of pocket amounts and other features from each of the Florida "Big 3" if you view instant LIVE Florida health insurance quotes).
Many of the smaller health insurance companies in Florida are forced to put indemnity style features and calendar year limits in their policies simply in order to compete with the “Big 3”. Be a discriminating health insurance shopper and utilize a Florida independent insurance agent that can work with more than one health insurance company and find you affordable and comprehensive health insurance in Florida. Request Florida health insurance quotes.
