By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    How Not to Become a Victim of Medical Scams
    How Not to Become a Victim of Medical Scams
    December 22, 2021
    11 Ways You Can Care for Your Elder Family Members Health
    11 Ways You Can Care for Your Elder Family Members Health
    April 6, 2022
    How Can Brain Injury Lead To Dangerous Long-Term Effects?
    How Can Brain Injury Lead To Dangerous Long-Term Effects?
    August 30, 2022
    Latest News
    Getting Back in the Game: Sports Injuries Rehabilitation Tips
    May 31, 2023
    4 Signs It’s Time to See a Therapist
    May 24, 2023
    11 Ways To Modernize Your Private Practice
    May 17, 2023
    How to Recognize the Signs of Hormonal Imbalance in Men
    May 29, 2023
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    Emergency On-Call Physician Policy – A Doctor Dissents
    February 16, 2016
    5 Fantastic And Healthy Outdoor Activities For People Over 40
    September 14, 2019
    Prognostic Scoring Analysis System Can Tell How Long Cancer Patients Have to Live
    August 27, 2011
    Latest News
    MRI Sedation Options: What You Should Know Before Screening
    May 17, 2023
    What is the Process of Creating Medicine from Nature?
    May 2, 2023
    Choosing the Right Treatment Option for Varicose Veins
    May 2, 2023
    What Are Wrong-Site Surgeries and How Do They Occur?
    April 27, 2023
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Insurance Shopping Tools Online: Open Enrollment Nears
Share
Sign In
Notification Show More
Aa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Aa
Search
Have an existing account? Sign In
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Business > Finance > Insurance Shopping Tools Online: Open Enrollment Nears
BusinesseHealthFinanceHealth ReformTechnology

Insurance Shopping Tools Online: Open Enrollment Nears

Jeanne Pinder
Last updated: 2014/10/31 at 8:11 AM
Jeanne Pinder
Share
6 Min Read
insurance shopping tools
SHARE

insurance shopping tools

insurance shopping tools

Summary: As open enrollment nears, there’s an increase in the number of tools available to help you shop for insurance. I will be using the New York State of Health exchange, as I did last year, and may test-drive some of these tools. Some of them will be better than others; some may try to give you information that lets their creators make money. So: pay attention. Here’s a sampling.

First, buying insurance is complicated, as we know. Austin Frakt, the health-care economist, wrote a nice piece for The New York Times about how complicated it is even for him. So the desire to find an easy solution, a useful tool, is one we’re familiar with.

More Read

healthcare cybersecurity

3 Pressing Healthcare Cyber Security Challenges and How to Address Them

Cutting-Edge Medical Innovations Are Disrupting Healthcare
Types of Remote Access Solutions for Hospitals
Top 10 Reasons to Improve Medical Website Accessibility
The Top 5 Considerations for Successful Medical Device Software Development

But you should know: not every tool out there on the web is really helping you. Some are trying to get you to buy something, and some have information that’s better than others. You should always look at who’s making money off your decisions. Ease of use isn’t everything (hello, healthcare.gov!)

For right now, we’re not covering getinsured.com, healthsherpaa.com and other longtime players in this post. These are new entrants we’re aware of; if you know of others, please let us know.

As open enrollment hasn’t started yet, it doesn’t make sense to test-drive these, but we’re collecting resources here. We plan to update as necessary.

Health Insurance Plan Calculator Lets you enter information and compare up to four plans. Pretty much looks like a do-it-yourself project. The information and analysis on this site is provided free to anyone on the internet who stumbles across it. You should evaluate it with the same care that you would any internet (or other) information. While great effort has been expended to make the information and arithmetic here accurate and useful, there is no warranty or guarantee, implicit or explicit. This page and this app are not the work of an insurance or health-care professional. It’s not professional advice, and you are solely responsible for reviewing and using it with care and judgment.

“This page was created by me, Steve Roth. I built a spreadsheet to do this analysis for myself years ago, and then hired a very talented fellow to build it out into this web app. Full disclosure: if this page attracts a decent amount of traffic, I’m hoping to post some ads and make some money. But to that end, I’ve just tried to provide the most useful app and information I can.

“Comments and questions are welcome! Use the form below.” As near as I can tell, he’s not making money on this.

PicWell: ‘Choosing the right health insurance is too complicated for everyone: consumers, health benefit advisers, brokers, employers, even insurance companies. Picwell’s goal is to help consumers navigate through this complexity using technology. By combining over 50 years of training in health economics and insurance, with the latest in predictive analytics and big data, we’re building tools to give you smarter, personalized recommendations: the right health plan for you. Simply put, we’re getting people to buy the right health insurance plan with ease and confidence.” Not clear what the business model is.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation chose six candidates to develop similar comparison engines in a “Plan Choice Challenge.” The six finalists may be seen on this page. Finalists were announced in September; for phase two of the challenge, the deadline is Jan. 12, 2015, and the winner will be announced in February. First place brings a prize of $50,000.

Places not to go to look for unbiased information

What about healthcare.com? Well, here’s a good lesson in paying attention to who’s making money.

As reported over on Wonkblog at The Washington Post, this is not connected with the government’s health exchange site, healthcare.gov, and people could be easily confused.

“If that sounds a lot like the government’s official portal for purchasing health care, that’s pretty much the idea. And it doesn’t look that different from HealthCare.gov. Stock photography of smiling people? Check. The promise to help someone find the right insurance plan for them? Yes,” Jason Millman writes on Wonkblog.

“But health care advocates say there is the potential for massive confusion among consumers trying to find the government’s official site. Users who wind up there by mistake could miss out on subsidies that most would receive if they were shopping on HealthCare.gov. And like HealthCare.gov last year, the HealthCare.com site has some kinks that it’s still working out, including inaccurate information.”

In tiny letters at the bottom of the page, the site announces: “HealthCare.com does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatments.

“HealthCare.com is a PRIVATELY OWNED website that is NOT owned or operated by any state or federal government agency.” 

TAGGED: insurance

Sign Up For Daily Newsletter

Be keep up! Get the latest breaking news delivered straight to your inbox.
By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.
Jeanne Pinder October 31, 2014
Share this Article
Facebook Twitter Copy Link Print
Share
Previous Article healthcare marketing Beyond the Buzz: Does Your Healthcare Content Need a Call-To-Action?
Next Article Medical Practice Marketing, Pinterest Does Pinterest Make Sense for Medical Practices?

Stay Connected

1.5k Followers Like
4.5k Followers Follow
2.8k Followers Pin
136k Subscribers Subscribe

Latest News

medical bills
Who is Responsible for Paying the Medical Bills After an Injury?
News June 1, 2023
sports injury rehabilitation
Getting Back in the Game: Sports Injuries Rehabilitation Tips
Health May 31, 2023
brush your day
How Many Times A Day Should You Brush Your Teeth?
Dental health May 29, 2023
Chiropractic Laser Therapy: A Beacon of Hope for Chronic Pain Sufferers
Chiropractic Laser Therapy: A Beacon of Hope for Chronic Pain Sufferers
Therapies May 29, 2023

You Might also Like

medical answering service
Technology

How Medical Answering Services Can Improve Patient Care

May 25, 2023
pet health apps
News

9 Best Apps for Pet Owners Trying to Keep their Animals Healthy

May 22, 2023
Biotechnology
Technology

What Are The Benefits of Biotechnology?

May 17, 2023
CRM for pharmaceutical
Technology

The Top Benefits of CRM Tools for Pharmaceutical Brands

May 11, 2023
//

We influence million of users and is the most authentic source of information on healthcare business and technology news.

Quick Links

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Subscribe

Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!

Follow US

© 2008-2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?