Shopping online for health insurance?
Product Choice
Look for websites presenting products from multiple health insurance companies. Information will tend to be more detailed and objective.
Required
Information
To make an educated decision, you need quality information. If you are serious about evaluating health insurance plans, you need to know:
- Health plan benefit levels
- Exclusions and limitations
- Physician and hospital networks
- Insurance company financial strength
- Application forms (online or paper) -- The application form can tell you a lot about how a plan may work for you.
To ensure the confidentiality of of any personal information you may provide, look for health insurance websites that display their privacy practices. Get assurance that your personal information will safeguarded and that you will not be "spammed" if you provide your e-mail address.
Security
Provide sensitive information, such as your social security number, a credit card number, or personal medical details, only through a secure website page. By using encryption, a secure web page ensures that information you enter will not be intercepted by computer hackers.
To verify that a website page is secure, look for:
- The web address begins with "https:", rather than "http:"
- A small padlock appears in a corner of your browser window.
Security is only necessary on website pages that require you to enter personal information.
Address
Information
We never cease to be amazed at the number of internet vendors that do not provide location information. If a website does not show the business's street address, be wary.
Independent
Quality Standards
There are respected organizations that provide business and website credentialing. For example, we participate in the BBB (Better Business Bureau) Online Reliability Program. A corresponding BBB logo appears to the right. If you click the logo, you access a Better Business Bureau website confirming MedPlan Access meets certain quality standards.
Other trusted websites will typically display a logo of the credentialing organization on the website home page. Some other credentialing organizations are TRUSTe, Verisign and Thawte.
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