California health insurance - Individual and Family Plans

California Individual and Family Health Insurance Center

Welcome to the new world of California health insurance for Individuals and Families....and what a new world it is! The roll out of the ACA (Affordable Care Act) has completely transformed how we shop for a health plan.

Below, we'll give you Quick Points to make sure you don't go into the process blindly. We'll also provide valuable guidance on how to apply for coverage and understand the options.

It might be the best 5 minutes you can spend if you suddenly find yourself in the market for private health coverage. Let's start the quick points to keep in mind...any one of these might ave you $1000's of dollars and hours of headaches.

Quick Points for the new California Health Market

There are new Tax Credits. We now have tax credits which can help pay your insurance premium depending on your income. You get this credit monthly so it reduces your health insurance premium right away! If eligible, this is found money.

We can help you determine if you're eligible. You may also qualify for richer benefits as well.

Outside of "special life events" such as losing other coverage or moving to California (ask us about "Special Enrollment Periods" for more detail), there are now Open Enrollment Windows to get a new plan. This generally runs (check with us for updates) from Nov 15th - Feb 15th. We'll start to pre-enroll earlier to avoid the rush and headaches. Join our "Early Bird" email list and we'll notify you of options when the market opens.

Coverage is now guaranteed issue which means that a person cannot be declined based on health. The open enrollment windows above are the trade-off.

There is a penalty for not purchasing coverage. It will be 2% of income for 2015 and increases from there.

Tips on Shopping Covered California

Don't go it alone! This isn't some type of self-promotion. Of the 100's of Californians that we helped enroll in the first Covered California Open Enrollment, many had started on their own and a vast majority of them had serious issues and incorrect information in the system which would keep them from receiving a tax subsidy or even coverage itself!

Our services are completely FREE to you.

There's absolutely no cost and you'll be very happy to have a 3rd party advocate in the new marketplace. This definitely includes Covered California.

The first question is whether you qualify for a tax credit to help pay for your premium or Medi-cal based on income. This is similar to completing a tax form! Seriously. This was a source of most of the errors we came across when people tried to enroll themselves. We can help you determine your best estimate for income and for the right number of people.

Everyone's financial and family situation is different so there's no easy blueprint. Ultimately, in 5 minutes on the phone, we can quickly determine the most tax credit that you're eligible for. Call us at 800-320-6269. You'll see there's no pressure. If we can help you...great.

The plan benefits are standardized now at 4 basic levels but that doesn't make it any easier to choose a plan that best fits your needs. Health insurance has never been easy and now there's a tax consideration mixed in. Insult to injury.

The networks (doctors and hospitals you're allowed to see) are more important than ever! This has been the biggest concern from enrolled members across all the carriers.

The new networks are much smaller and that will probably improve slightly but not much. We can provide guidance based on your area.

We focus on California health insurance so we know the networks unlike large nationwide online insurance sites. That's never been more important than now.

Covered California enrollment is only the start.

We can call over to Covered Ca to check status, fix problems, and track down exactly what happened.

The payment and membership process with a chosen carrier has been "interesting". We have dedicated reps at the big carriers so we can help you avoid hours on the phone tracking down what happened to that payment.

This brings us to the application and enrollment process!

Applying for California health insurance including Covered Ca

Qualifying used to be tough. Roughly 20% of applicants were declined due to health and the health history sections of applications were byzantine at best. After a rough start with 24 pages (yes 24) Covered Ca paper applications, we found the easiest and fastest path for applying to Covered Ca.

We can now enroll you over the phone in 10 minutes.

That's right. 10 minutes on the phone and you're in the system. It's never been easier. Here's the process formed after days of tinkering with a very difficult and moody computer system (Calheers).

We take the important information over the phone. This generally takes 5 minutes.
We enroll the account in the evening when Covered Ca's system is less impacted (during busy times, it tends to crash or bogs down to a crawl).
We email you a confirmation of your enrollment, plan selection, effective date, and other important information within 24 hours for most cases.

That's it! Covered Ca will send you a letter with confirmation and occasionally a request for supporting information generally in 5-7 business days. The carrier will then send the first month's invoice 5-7 business days after that. For some carriers, we may be able to process payment for the first month's premium right with the application.

We have added countless articles on specific topics for you to research on your own (that's how we like to shop for things!). This is provided to help educate and empower you in this new market. Again, there's always a friendly voice just a call away to walk through any questions you have. You'll be pleasantly surprised...we promise.

You can run your California Metallic Plan Quote here to view rates and plans side by side from the major carriers...Free.

Again, there is absolutely no cost to you for our services. Call 800-320-6269 Today!