Need new health insurance - questions

[mlktwins]

Our health insurance plan is being discontinued. Back in the day, I was a Federal employee with BCBS and when I stayed home with my boys, I continued with COBRA for 18 months. After that, we continued with a different plan at BCBS. My DH was considered self-employed and we have stayed on our plan for about 18 years. When all the ACA stuff came out, we paid a higher premium, but our plan was grandfathered in. Now it is being eliminated and I have not dealt with finding insurance in forever.

I will say that over the years, when ACA came into place, we did research other plans to see if we could lower our premiums (they are high, but it is a good plan). At that time, we found all our favored doctors were not included in the plan options, etc. so we never made the jump. Now we have no choice.

So where do we start? We can contact BCBS to see what alternate plans they are offering? We can get a broker? We want to keep our doctors as we have been with them for a long time and we don't prefer to change. Should I call the various doctors and see what plans they recommend or participate with?

Are there still issues with pre-existing conditions, etc.?

Any advice is very welcome. We live in VA if that helps.

[freesia]

15 minutes ago, mlktwins said:

Our health insurance plan is being discontinued. Back in the day, I was a Federal employee with BCBS and when I stayed home with my boys, I continued with COBRA for 18 months. After that, we continued with a different plan at BCBS. My DH was considered self-employed and we have stayed on our plan for about 18 years. When all the ACA stuff came out, we paid a higher premium, but our plan was grandfathered in. Now it is being eliminated and I have not dealt with finding insurance in forever.

I will say that over the years, when ACA came into place, we did research other plans to see if we could lower our premiums (they are high, but it is a good plan). At that time, we found all our favored doctors were not included in the plan options, etc. so we never made the jump. Now we have no choice.

So where do we start? We can contact BCBS to see what alternate plans they are offering? We can get a broker? We want to keep our doctors as we have been with them for a long time and we don't prefer to change. Should I call the various doctors and see what plans they recommend or participate with?

Are there still issues with pre-existing conditions, etc.?

Any advice is very welcome. We live in VA if that helps.

 If you want to keep your doctors, I would check what plans they take. Then I would get a broker and they can research for you to find the best deal fir what you want. 
 

I don’t think the pre-existing condition is a thing anymore and it definitely isn’t if you are switching directly from one plan to another bc of losing your coverage. 

[Carol in Cal.]

At all costs avoid a gap in coverage.

Ask around for referrals to a good broker licensed in VA who can walk you through this.

[Pawz4me]

When is your insurance ending?

If it continues through the end of this year -- Open enrollment for the ACA starts on November 1. That's for signing up for coverage beginning January 1. On November 1 you should be able to go on their website (or your state's site, if they have one) and see all the available plans in your area for next year. You can also start an account, answer lots of questions, and get a ball park estimate about how much, if any, subsidy you may qualify for.

If your coverage is ending prior to the first of the year then you can start enrollment as soon as it ends, since losing your coverage counts as a special qualifying event.

You can also talk to an insurance broker. We didn't have a very good experience with that. We saw a very highly recommended person (recommended by multiple people who didn't know each other) but she seemed to be less knowledgeable than we were. Granted, we'd done a LOT of self education before consulting her, but still . . . she definitely didn't inspire confidence, and even told us some things that were flat out wrong. So I guess my point there is educate yourself as much as you can before consulting someone.

[mlktwins]

40 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

When is your insurance ending?

If it continues through the end of this year -- Open enrollment for the ACA starts on November 1. That's for signing up for coverage beginning January 1. On November 1 you should be able to go on their website (or your state's site, if they have one) and see all the available plans in your area for next year. You can also start an account, answer lots of questions, and get a ball park estimate about how much, if any, subsidy you may qualify for.

If your coverage is ending prior to the first of the year then you can start enrollment as soon as it ends, since losing your coverage counts as a special qualifying event.

You can also talk to an insurance broker. We didn't have a very good experience with that. We saw a very highly recommended person (recommended by multiple people who didn't know each other) but she seemed to be less knowledgeable than we were. Granted, we'd done a LOT of self education before consulting her, but still . . . she definitely didn't inspire confidence, and even told us some things that were flat out wrong. So I guess my point there is educate yourself as much as you can before consulting someone.

We have through the end of this year. A little longer actually, but we won't wait that long. We want to have things in place at least a month ahead of the end of our plan. Even if we sign up for something for just a year and plan to have more time to prepare and research for next year.

[Beth S]

I initially began the online sign up process, on our state's ACA website, then realized you could talk with a Real Human.
Our state's website had suggested local people  (whose job it is to help you enroll) & their contact info.

Lots and lots of information is required!

[Sunshine State Sue]

On the home page of healthcare.gov there is a button to find local help. Local help can be broker/agent (generally paid by insurance companies whose plans they sell) or assisters (trained and certified, and required to provide fair, impartial, and accurate information).

I was researching when I was considering resigning. I like to understand the gory details. I want to understand completely what I'm getting or giving up.

The broker/agents only wanted to talk to me if they knew they were going to make a sell. They were not interested in me otherwise. They were not interested in helping me understand the system. They just wanted their commission, imo.

The assister, otoh, was happy to meet with me several times and show me how to research myself, answer my questions, and reach out to her contacts if I had questions she couldn't answer,

YMMV.

[MerryAtHope]

You can get search Marketplace specifically for plans that work for your dr, hospital, and medicines. I’d see what’s out there that might meet your needs and what your ptc would be. Pre-existing conditions are not an issue for Marketplace plans. 
www.healthcare.gov/apply-and-enroll/health-insurance-plans-estimator-overview/