Rating the best choices for health insurance plans - Washington life tips
Finding a good health-insurance plan is one of the most important decisions you can make. Our news partners at Consumer Reports just-released an analysis of almost a thousand health care plans that can also help you make better choices.
The editors looked at private, Medicare and Medicaid health-insurance plans ranked by the National Committee for Quality Assurance, a nonprofit accreditation organization.
Consumer Reports editor Nancy Metcalf says the qualify of health care has improved since last year. But she says there are also a few troubling trends.
"There are treatments and tests that have been shown not to be helpful, yet research shows many are still being overused," Metcalf said. "That's not only a waste of money, but you could end up getting treatments that are unnecessary, and sometimes even dangerous."
"There are treatments and tests that have been shown not to be helpful, yet research shows many are still being overused," Metcalf said. "That's not only a waste of money, but you could end up getting treatments that are unnecessary, and sometimes even dangerous."
It turns out the providers of the top 10 private plans are all non-profits.
"That means they don't have to worry about turning a profit for investors, they only about pleasing their customers," Metcalf said.
In the new rankings, big name for-profit companies - UnitedHealthcare, Aetna, and Humana - had more private plans at the bottom than at the top.
When it comes to shopping for insurance, a new form will make the process much easier.
"For the first time, every plan will have a form that looks exactly the same, which will make it much easier to compare them side by side," Metcalf said.
Kate Evans thinks that's great. When she did freelance work, and had to buy her own health insurance, she found the choices confusing.
"The options weren't really straightforward, and it was very confusing as to what you really got," she said. "Pages of information that just didn't make sense."
This new analysis shows Kaiser ranks the best of any of the major private health insurers here in Washington state. Group Health Cooperative ranked second.
Kaiser and Group Health tied for best in the Medicare category.
The news is not so good for Humana, the largest supplier of medicare HMO and PPO coverage in the country. Here in Washington Humana tied with Group Health Options at the bottom of the Medicare list.
"That means they don't have to worry about turning a profit for investors, they only about pleasing their customers," Metcalf said.
In the new rankings, big name for-profit companies - UnitedHealthcare, Aetna, and Humana - had more private plans at the bottom than at the top.
When it comes to shopping for insurance, a new form will make the process much easier.
"For the first time, every plan will have a form that looks exactly the same, which will make it much easier to compare them side by side," Metcalf said.
Kate Evans thinks that's great. When she did freelance work, and had to buy her own health insurance, she found the choices confusing.
"The options weren't really straightforward, and it was very confusing as to what you really got," she said. "Pages of information that just didn't make sense."
This new analysis shows Kaiser ranks the best of any of the major private health insurers here in Washington state. Group Health Cooperative ranked second.
Kaiser and Group Health tied for best in the Medicare category.
The news is not so good for Humana, the largest supplier of medicare HMO and PPO coverage in the country. Here in Washington Humana tied with Group Health Options at the bottom of the Medicare list.
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