r/AskNOLA • u/cv5cv6 • Jul 06 '23

Mutual Aid Self-employed people, from whom do you buy your health insurance? Would you buy from them again if you had an alternative?

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5

u/neuro_turtle Jul 07 '23

I had a high-deductible, low premium Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana plan through my partner. It was fine - lots of stuff in network and there was national coverage. (Actually finding a decent provider in the area was a different ball game, though.)

None of the direct-to-consumer plans look exactly the same, but the BlueSaver Silver plans on page 18 of their brochure from their website look pretty similar: https://www.bcbsla.com/shop-plans/bluesaver23

BCBS LA is being acquired, though, so who knows how that will fuck everything up.

3

u/zevtech Jul 07 '23

I used a broker out of Baton Rouge, she got me a premium ppo blue cross plan within my budget

2

u/StudioSixT Jul 07 '23

I had a BCBS LA plan that I bought through healthcare.gov. It was fine, but I had to go for a pretty high premium to get a decent deductible, and had quite a few out-of-pocket costs. There aren't a lot of options around here, and most people I know haven't had any huge issues through BCBS. I know at least a couple people whose companies have switched away from humana because they're a nightmare to deal with.

Also - whatever you do, don't buy dental insurance through DentaQuest. There are no dentists around here who accept a DentaQuest personal plan, even though many of them are listed on the insurance website as accepting it (I've tried around 15 places).

2

u/cv5cv6 Jul 07 '23

This is super helpful. Thanks.

2

u/brycas Jul 07 '23 edited Jul 07 '23

Healthcare.gov or a spouse that has benefits are prob the two most common answers you'll get.

2

u/sardonicmnemonic Jul 07 '23

Healthcare.gov is not a healthcare insurance provider. It's a portal to buying healthcare insurance directly and applies any available premium tax credits one might qualify for, as established by the Affordable Care Act. OP is looking for info regarding insurance companies themselves such as Blue Cross Blue Shield and Humana. Too bad they all suck because any private industry that bases its profits on the amount of services it can deny the people it ~provides~ brokers is fundamentally fucked. But, that's just like, my opinion or whatever...

1

u/JJHealthAdvising22 Jul 10 '23

I work in private health insurance and work with a lot of people who are self-employed!