Thursday, November 20, 2008

Payment Information for the insurance carriers

When apply for individual health insurance coverage, most insurance carriers require an inital payment (usually the first month's premium).  BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois, Aetna, Humana, United Healthcare, and Celtic all require a payment to process the application.  Unicare is the only insurance carrier that doesn't require a inital payment.  

If you are approved, the insurance carrier will accept your payment and start the policy as of your effective date.  If you are denied, the insurance carrier will accept the payment and will issue your a check for the exact same amount. The issue that some people have run into is that the insurance carrier cash ALL checks (so make sure that your bank account has sufficant funds to cover the cost and avoid overdraft fees).  People were thinking that the insurance carriers just hold on the check until they get a response of the underwriting department.  Which is untrue! 

When you use www.gizmohealth.com, there is no application and service fees.  Their webpage and brokers services are completely free to you, because they are compensated by the insurance carriers based on the number of clients that have with that carrier. Gizmo Health is a third party brokerage firm, that focuses on a solid relationships with the insurance carriers and excellent customer service.  Gizmo Health will give you an honest opinion based on your individual health insurance needs. 

Uninsured in Illinois

1.8 million Illinois residents lack health coverage. 1.3 million of those uninsured live in the Chicagoland area. Latinos currently represent more than 30% of Illinois uninsured.