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What Health Insurance plan do I pick in Washington State?

2016 is shaping up to be a big year for health insurance in Washington State. We are now looking at:

• 180 approved plans on the Washington Health Benefits Exchange.
• A 4.2 percent Increase approved by the Office of the Insurance Commissioner.
• Regence Blue Shield’s Innova plan is the state’s essential health benefit (EHB) benchmark plan so the tax credits are changing.

Our office has been training a few months on the different plans. There are some big differences with new carriers entering the exchange market such as Health Alliance Northwest Plan Inc, Regence BlueShield and United Healthcare of Washington. There have been significant changes in plan structures of Lifewise, Moda and Coordinated Care. We regularly reach out to carriers to find out how they function from customer feedback and with utilizing the products ourselves. Our brokers do the best to distill the information down to a usable format so that our clients can make the best possible choice in carriers.

Yes, the cost has gone up an average of 4.2 percent average for the state. This will be the second year that the benchmark plan has changed which increase consumer can cost for customers that are dependent on tax credits lowering cost. Do not base your health insurance completely on monthly premium cost; address your entire monthly health budget. There are tools available such as Health Savings Accounts and added products such as vision and dental plans that are important to round out planning for the year.

We have also seen insurance companies violating the 80/20 rule and being forced to pay back premium to customers. Insurance Companies must spend 80% of premium dollars on Health Care or else reimburse customers. I received a check from Premera for my 2014 enrollment in one of their plans.

We believe that it is important to select a broker regardless if it is our agency or not. The reason that we advocate is that it breathe life into the middle class of every communities throughout Washington State. Brokers are small businesses spread throughout the state. During the first open enrollment, if everyone had selected a broker small businesses would have been paid $1,000,000 a month by insurance companies. By selecting a broker it lowers the tax dollars being spent by the exchange and those funds could be spent on education or highway improvement. This year during open enrollment, they are dropping the call center from 650 to 350 representatives because of budget issues.

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Location: Suzie Health Solutions

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