Individual & Family Major Medical, Short Term Health & Travel Health Insurance

O’Brien & Associates works with top carriers to offer major medical insurance to individuals and families. Below are the various types of major medical policies you may purchase to meet your specific needs.

A Health Maintenance Organization or HMO offers lower premiums and a significant savings on routine and preventative healthcare.  This type of health plan requires you to appoint a primary care physician and to use doctors and facilities that are affiliated with the HMO. If you use healthcare service providers outside of the HMO, there is a good chance those charges won’t be covered by your policy. The great thing about an HMO is that the only charges you incur, outside of your premiums, are co-pays for doctor’s visits and other services such as procedures and prescriptions.

A Preferred Provider Organization or PPO will save you money on services if you use the preferred providers within the network. Keep in mind that deductibles must be met on this plan before some services will be covered. The good thing about a PPO is they generally will allow a certain amount of services annually outside of the deductible with a small co-pay, and most often the PPO has a large network with quality care providers and excellent prescription drug coverage.

Wellness and Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are cost saving strategies implemented into health plans to save consumers money on their healthcare costs. Employers have been implementing these tools into their benefit packages for years to save money on rising premiums. The concept is simple – a healthy person equates to less health claims for the insurer. Accordingly, many of today’s individual insurers offer the following similar benefits to individuals and families.

Wellness & Healthcare Consumerism – information and tools about nutrition, exercise, preventative medicine, substance abuse and many other healthy alternatives to make decisions that improve your overall health and well-being.

Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) – save you money and combine a tax-advantaged savings account with a high deductible, low premium plan. Make tax deductible contributions to the savings account. Dollars in your health savings account earn interest tax-deferred and roll over from year to year until you decide to use them.  Withdrawals from your health savings account are tax-free as long as you use them for qualified medical expenses, as defined by the IRS.

Telemedicine is another cost saving strategy offered by insurers to save consumers money, while promoting a healthy population. You can connect to a licensed doctor by phone, within minutes. Get the same care and pay only a fraction of an office visit. And, it’s available almost anywhere you go.

Following are a few features of telemedicine coverage:

• Teladoc:  24/7 access to a national network of board-certified doctors
• Consumer advocacy: Provides advocacy and support for high-dollar health insurance claims
• Wellness: Keeps you up to date on health, nutrition and fitness topics to help you make feel-good lifestyle choices
• Davis Vision: Offers discounts on eye exams, lenses, frames and more

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed in 2010 and is healthcare reform affecting individuals, employers and insurance companies.The Federal Health Insurance Marketplace is part of the Affordable Care Act and offers four different levels of health plans to individuals (Platinum, Gold, Silver or Bronze).

If you purchase your health insurance through the Federal Health Insurance Marketplace, you may be eligible for a tax credit (premium discount). Families earning up to $94,000 per household (this is about 400% of the poverty level) can qualify.

Short Term Medical Plans are health plans designed for times of transition and help to bridge gaps in coverage for individuals and families. Short term plans are generally less expensive than traditional health insurance, but they do not provide full coverage. Specifically, they do not cover pre-existing conditions, nor do they contain the essential benefits required by the ACA to avoid penalty.

Based on your needs, you can select the length of time (1 to 11 months in many states) and from a range of available deductible amounts.

There are many reasons you may need to travel abroad, but that doesn’t mean you have to be without health coverage. Whether vacationing, studying, or visiting friends and relatives, we provide international medical insurance products, such as major medical, life, dental and disability products that can be tailored to meet your needs.

Have access to multi-lingual specialists and more than 17,000 doctors and medical facilities to take care of you in the event of an unforseen medical illness or emergency while you are traveling out of the country.