Insurance info?

[eflat]

I need to find new health insurance. I've been self-employed for a number of months and trying to keep the same full coverage Kaiser I had as an employee is insanely expensive and really unreasonable. I've gotten some online quotes, but I'd like to get feedback from people actually in Sacramento. I guess I'm looking for experiences of price/coverage satisfaction or maybe a broker to contact. My partner and I are late-30s to 40, and we have a 10 month old baby. Currently the baby is covered separately but by the same insurer. Having maternity coverage would be nice as we're still considering, even as tired as we are, another little one.

Reply by pm is fine, of course. Thanks all!

 

[linzeesan]

I don't live in Sacramento but I do work at a primary care doctors office and I deal with insurances all day. You might want to start looking at plans that don't require a lot of authorization for medicines, radiology procedures, hospitalizations, etc. For example, some insurances don't cover many medications, especially brand name, and if you are already on a medication it may not be approved by your new plan. Your doctor will have to call and submit documentation and it's a real hassle. The same goes for radiology procedures and simple emergency room visits. I know for a fact that some doctors offices do not put priority on prior authorizations so you could be waiting for weeks to get a procedure done. If you don't get the authorization then you're stuck with the bill. In other words, if I were you I would check into that. Off the top of my head I do know that most bluecross blueshield plans do not require authorization and most ppo plans do not as well. I hope this info was at least some help to you.

 

[Variant]

I had good experiences with Blue Cross PPO when I lived up north. Admittedly this was of the gap insurance variety via COBRA between jobs.