Illinois Family Health Insurance

Illinois Family Health insurance facts & figures

“They say that liars figure and figures lie” and I’ve always thought that to be an interesting quote, and yet, in the insurance business sometimes all we have is statistics and a hard core reality check. Perhaps, it is for this reason that I wanted to mention some statistics to you, which came from a non-biased source - in a well-known consumer insurance book.

The Kaiser Family Foundation did an industry survey and found that the most common Illinois Family Health Insurance Plans ran in excess of $10,000 per year.

If you have a family now and you do have insurance, you can attest to this, if not you can understand why it is important to do some research before investing in an Illinois Family Health Insurance policy - not just cost of monthly premiums, but the reality of the policy, and the value and safety it provides your family against all sorts of the most common health care challenges we face as Illinois residents.

The tough truth is “everybody” and everyone in your family needs health care coverage, and perhaps, we need to look at your current policy and see if it stacks up – both cost wise and coverage.

Illinois family health care insurance should not cause you to cancel all your family vacations, or force you and your family to eat Top Ramen and Macaroni & Cheese for the rest of your life. And mind you, I don’t have anything against those fine dishes either, but seriously, let’s talk about this for a moment shall we? Look, I am here to save you money on your family health insurance in Illinois, and I make a small stipend when I do.

So, let’s go ahead and review what insurance you currently have, your real needs and risks, and then see if we can match or beat the premiums you are paying while increasing the benefit – just in case you ever need it, as most of us do at one time or another. And, the more people in your family the greater the chances of such an occurrence. Give me a call for a free consultation, and let me show you what’s available and give you the non-sugar coated version, you deserve to know.

Think about your reward - No More Stress - No More Worries - and Mission Accomplished!

Randy Gillespie is the owner of Focus Insurance Group, get expert help from an agent specializing in Illinois Family Health Insurance, & Family Health Insurance in Illinois. To learn more visit his site at www.Focusinsgroup.com

Tags: , ,

Family Health Insurance in Illinois – Protecting the Health of Your Loved Ones

While the debate over health care reform still rages on in Washington, it’s important to not forget about the options already available to us to provide health insurance for our families. In the state of Illinois, around 86.3% of its residents currently have health insurance, which is used to see their primary care physicians. That means 13.7% of Illinois residents are currently uninsured. The state ranks 25th in the country in terms of how much of its population is without health insurance. Overall, of all the states, Illinois ranks 31st in a 2008 report, that lists all 50 states by the health care systems they have in place, as well as the quality of care.

In 2008, the state of Illinois had 128.9 ready to access primary care doctors for every 100,000 of the state’s residents. Like many other places of the more populated areas of the country, it should not be a shock that cost of living is quite so high in places like Chicago. But believe it or not, you can still find affordable, quality family health insurance plans to insure your loved ones.

One of the ways to help afford quality family health insurance is to get a health saving account. A health savings account is tax reduced, or sometimes tax free, saving account made available to those who have a high deductible health plan. It is to be used strictly for paying for qualified medical expenses only. Those who have a high deductible health plan pay more in deductibles because they pay much less in monthly premiums than most others do. The good thing about a health savings account is that the money you put into it is not counted towards your federal income tax at the time you put the money into it.

A health savings account is kind of like a flexible spending account, as they are both used to help offset the cost of health care. They are different in that health savings account will allow funds to be rolled over to the next year if they are not spent, whereas as a flexible spending account will not roll over from year to year. They are setup much like an IRA in that you will not be taxed on money used for medical purposes, whereas you will be taxed should you use the money on non-medical purchases. If you are located in Illinois and are looking for ways to provide quality, but affordable, health insurance for your family, then please visit http://www.focusinsgroup.com for more info.

Randy Gillespie is the owner of Focus Insurance Group, get expert help from an agent specializing in Illinois family health insurance, & Illinois Medicare. To learn more visit his site at www.Focusinsgroup.com

Tags: , ,

Sunday, December 6th, 2009 Articles No Comments

Illinois Family Health Insurance – How To Pick The Best Co-Pay Plan For Your Family

There are not a lot of families in the United States today that wouldn’t be willing to switch their Illinois family health insurance to a different carrier if they could lower their premiums and keep the same benefit level. Believe it or not, even in the marketplace today it’s worth looking in to. As long as you go about it correctly and get good help it shouldn’t be a problem at all.

So how do you go about picking the best doctor office co-pay plan for your family? You need to take a close look at the benefit outlines of each carrier that you’re interested in. One of the best ways, I think, to do this would be to use an online quoting engine and take advantage of the help of a good broker.

One of the most important things to compare is the deductible. Not just the amount, which is important, but also how many deductibles you have to meet per family. With some carriers you only have to meet two deductibles per family with other carriers you would have to meet three.
Another thing to keep an eye on is how many different coinsurance levels does your family have to meet? Again with some carriers it’s only two and with other carriers it could be three. Another way to look at this is to compare the family max out-of-pocket.

Doctor office co-pays can vary as well, they range anywhere from $20 up to $40 per doctor office visit. Some carriers even charged double that for specialist co-pays.

With the price of prescription drugs today it’s very important to take a close look at what your prescription drug coverage would be upfront and what your prescription co-pays would be. Prescription drug co-pays can vary quite a bit between carriers. For the most part there are four tiers to prescription drugs.

Tier 1 - Generic
Tier 2 - Formulary or Preferred Name Brand Drugs
Tier 3 - Non Formulary or Name Brand Drugs
Tier 4 - Specialty drugs

Sometimes specialty drugs have annual limitations as well, which should be taken into consideration.

Take a close look at what kind of annual wellness benefit is offered. Most carriers have started to limit this annual routine benefit to $300-$1000. State-mandated benefits typically do not count towards the annual benefit amount allowed.

So when you take a close look at these areas when choosing your Illinois family health insurance plan that’ll make your decision making process a lot easier.

Think about your reward -No More Stress-No More Worries-And Mission Accomplished!

Randy Gillespie is the owner of Focus Insurance Group, get expert help from an agent specializing in Illinois family health insurance, & Illinois Medicare. To learn more visit his site at www.Focusinsgroup.com

Tags: , ,

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009 Health Insurance News and Comments No Comments