In its simplest definition, a health insurance broker (also commonly known as an agent) is someone who is licensed to sell health insurance. However, there are many other services that they provide to you that fall under the umbrella of selling health insurance. These are some of the most important:
- Perhaps the most important fact to know about working with an agent is that it’s free. Insurance agents are paid by insurance companies, not by consumers. So don’t worry about having to pay a service fee to sign up for a plan with an agent, because it won’t cost you more than if you did it yourself.
- Health insurance is confusing and an agent will explain it to you until it makes sense. Ask all the questions you want, that’s what they’re for. Want to know what your coinsurance will be on a certain plan? Want to know what coinsurance means? Ask away!
- An agent can help you compare the plans that interest you. When you tell an agent what you’re looking for, they’ll narrow down your possibilities and explain the benefits of each. They can check to see if your preferred doctors and medical facilities are in-network, and they can simply see if the prescriptions you take are covered (and how much).
- Your agent is your agent as long as you have your policy. This means you have someone you can contact when you have questions or even want to look for a new plan. You have someone on your side, instead of improvising and choosing a plan on your own.
Since I’m sure you don’t want to sit here reading all day, those are just a few of the biggest benefits of using a licensed agent to shop for health insurance. That’s not even including how much time and frustration an agent can save you (we’ll save that for another article!).
To make it even more convenient for you, many brokers have the ability to access plans on and off the marketplace (government run health insurance marketplaces). This provides you with even more options. In addition, for agents who can access exchange plans, they can also determine your eligibility for a subsidy that can reduce your premium and out-of-pocket costs. Again, saving you another headache.
The next time you need to enroll in or change a health plan, consider a licensed agent; It won’t cost you anything, but it will certainly save you a lot.