Thanks to the web revolution! We can compare, read reviews, ask for opinions, and collect as much as data on a particular product before we decide to buy the same. This stands true in any case if it’s a mobile phone,  an IT service or a house hold item or a book or even a financial product like health insurance. Well in USA there are about 175+ different products/policies available on health insurance. Similar is the case in all countries, we need to choose from a set of products. It’s a tedious job to select the right policy that suits you from a set of 100+ options. We shall find ourselves exhausted reading all data, comparing and analysing. If we are aware of certain key facts about health insurance policies we can find a good policy that matches our needs in less time. Here follows some important points to keep in mind while skimming through a myriad of health policies.

Choose a licensed agent for buying

You can save a lot of time studying all health insurance policy plans if you go to a licensed agent. You may tell your agent all the requirements and ask him to show some good plans that suits your needs. An advantage of using the agent is he’s an experienced man who might have dealt with a variety of policies. He can show you policies of different companies, explain the pros and cons of each plan, and he may even advice you to choose from 2 or 3 best plans. If he’s a trusted one chances are that he will be impartial and help you to get the right policy. I am not neglecting odds like agent advocating for a particular company because of high commission rate, well to avoid such cases choose a trustworthy agent. How do you know he’s trustworthy? Simple, ask for a reference from your friends or family. If you are not satisfied with one agent, work with 2 or 3 and use your brilliance to select the right one. Also keep in mind buying from an agent never costs anything more than buying direct from the company.

Quality Ratings/Popularity/Returns

Keep in mind the universal rule, a product which is highly popular and maintains the same consistently for a long period, it may not be that bad! Ask your friends, family and well wishers before you buy policy. Take suggestions from them and decide on accordance with all data. Quality ratings can be used as a tool to select/reject a policy. Common rating organisations like Better Business Bureau (BBBo), TRUSTe or A.M.Best uses standard criteria for rating a health insurance policy. The BBBo ratings include specific information about company and in addition they supply user reviews, especially complaints against the product. A high rating by A.M Best means you can trust that product. The last but highly important point to keep in mind is previous history of health insurance companies. An important data is speed, efficiency and transparency in settling claims. There are companies which are not transparent in their claims settlement, some will delay the same by going to courts etc etc.

Support/Maintenance

Customer support or after sales service is an art. Only a few good companies knew it!  They spend millions of dollars advertising to acquire a customer but the sad part is they don’t realise they can get a better conversion rate if provided a better customer support. No marketing technique has ever invented to substitute “word of good mouth” marketing. So look for a company/agent that provides anytime phone support , easy maintenance of policy, quick processing and low processing charges and in addition to all find one who values and respects a customer.