Health Insurance

There are many options when it comes to health insurance.

Unless you work full-time studying all the plans and companies - it is extremely difficult to understand all of your options and know where to go and what to do.

We can help you with all of the research!

What is MNSure?

This is the first place people usually go to look for insurance in Minnesota.

I like to think of MNSure.org as a one-stop shop for everything related to health Insurance.

MNSure.org is a place where you can go to look and see what is out there. It shows you all the financial help options as well. Insurance is very expensive and many people can receive help paying for insurance in the state of Minnesota. There are four main levels of help.

A unique thing about Minnesota is that they don't look at assets under 65 on helping people financially for health insurance. After 65, they do look at assets in order to qualify.

Medical Assistance - this means you make no income or very little. If you qualify for this, most of your medically necessary bills with have a small co-pay, like $1-$3. This is Minnesota's equivelant to Medicaid when you are under the age of 65. Each state decides on their own Medicaid program and this is what Minnesota chose. Some states don't have a Medicaid program at all.

Minnesota Care - this means you make a little income and therefore will usually pay a small premium for this program, usually $4-$80. Your medically necessary bills are usually a relatively small amount as well. The co-pays are a little larger then Medical Assistance, usually $20-60.

Tax Credits - this means you have insurance just like anyone else could get, but you have a reduced premium based on your income. They call them APTC (Advanced Premium Tax Credits). These are all based on income. If you underestimate your income and MNSure gives you a large APTC, then you may have to pay it back when you file your taxes.

Individual & Family plan - if you don't qualify for any financial help, you can see the insurance companies and plans in your area. They don't always list every insurance plan in your area, which is why I recommend reaching out to a broker to make sure you aren't missing an option!

What is Short-Term Insurance?

Short-term insurance is insurance designed for a short-term. This would be if someone is going on Medicare or some other kind of insurance and just needs something to get them by in case something catastrophic happens for a couple months.

This is usually used for people that are transitioning between jobs or maybe they missed the open enrollment deadline for regular insurance and need something until the next enrollment period.

There are usually pre-existing condition questions and these questions vary between companies.

You can only get short-term insurance for up to 6 months in the state of Minnesota. After those 6 months, you can reapply and get it for another 6 months. The reason they do this is for two main reasons.

You can only have short-term insurance 365 days out of a 555 day period. So when you reapply, they look to see how long you have had it already and will end it if you have reached your limit.
There are pre-existing conditions. If you applied and passed the pre-existing conditions originally but during the first 6 months you had one of the conditions occur, then you may not be eligible to reapply.

Short-term insurance is typically much cheaper than regular insurance but is meant to be short-term and is meant to be for mainly catastrophic reasons. There are some companies and plans that do offer some nice bells & whistles along with these plans. Call us today to learn more!

What is a Health Sharing Plan?

A health sharing plan is NOT insurance. A health sharing plan does not follow any of the insurance rules and therefore can not be called insurance.

To be a member, they typically have conditions or rules to follow. If you don't follow the rules, they may deny covering you. A good example of this would be accidents and conditions related to smoking and drinking.

They are typically religion based.

Each sharing plan company has different rules, costs and coverages, There are so many out there and frankly, some of them offer very low coverage. You have to be very careful looking at these. There are only a few companies that I would recommend as legitimate and worth the money.

It is hard to describe them in general because each one can be very different than the next. They can be cheaper than regular insurance and can be a great option if you are uninsured. They are much better than having no insurance.

Southeastern MN has some of the highest insurance costs. Therefore many families are choosing to go uninsured because they can't afford regular insurance. This would be a great alternative to being uninsured and having no health coverage. Having no health coverage can mean losing everything you own, your house and your bank accounts if something happens like a car accident.

I have seen one car or motorcycle accident cost people over $350,000 in medical bills, not to mention all the time lost from working and all the hours family has to spend caring for their injured loved one.

What is Travel Insurance?

Travel insurance comes in many different shapes and sizes!

These plans vary by company.

Here are some of the bells & whistles they may offer (depending on the company):

Easier coverage - when you are traveling, most countries will not recognize your insurance plan from America. If you get a highly recognized and popular travel insurance, the country will usually bill that travel insurance rather than making you give them a credit card or cash upfront before they will treat you. One of the companies even has a line you can call and they will deal with the hospital or medical provider on your behalf as far as billing goes.

Interpreters. Depending on the travel insurance company, many will offer an interpreter to speak to the medical clinic so you are able to communicate and tell them what you need.

Medications: If you forgot to bring a medication with you, you can type the name into the search box and it will tell you the equivalent medication in that country,

Air ambulance. If you are hurt in a foreign country, many plans will fly you to a hospital that has medical care as good or better than America to treat you.

If the worst case scenario happens and you pass away in another country, many will transport your remains home and even pay a beneficiary a little life insurance.

Many will not pay for preventative covid testing but will pay if you get sick with covid.

Again, these bells & whistles vary by plan. Call us if you are interested in learning more.

The information on this website is for educational purposes only. While we have taken every precaution to ensure all information is accurate, errors can occur. Health Insurance Advisors, LLC assumes no responsibility for any errors on this page. Sources: Medicare.Gov & SSA.Gov