Where can I get a list of health insurance providers?
Finding a comprehensive list of health insurance providers can be a daunting task. If you get your health insurance through your employer, you may never have need of such a list, but if you are self-employed or your employer doesn’t offer coverage, you may find yourself searching for health insurance companies offering policies you can afford. If this sounds like your situation, the good news is that there are comprehensive lists if you know where to look.
Enter your zip code into our free search tool below for access to a variety of health insurance quotesfrom companies in your area.
One of the best places to start your search for health insurance providers is your state insurance department. That’s because in order to sell insurance, a company must be licensed by each individual state according to the type of insurance they offer.
As a rule, the states provide information on all licensed companies through their insurance department website. The California Department of Insuranceis just one example. They list insurance companies according to several different categories, making your search quite a bit easier.
How can I use the information I find from my state insurance department?
Depending on your particular state, you may get just a name and a link for individual insurance companies; in some cases, you may only get the name. If your state only provides basic information, you’ll have to contact each individual insurance company to find out what it is they offer. This can be time-consuming and frustrating, but often times it’s the only way to get the information you need. If your state is more liberal in providing information, they might include a breakdown of the various companies by what they offer.
Regardless, it is highly unlikely that your state insurance department will offer any tangible tools to help you make a decision about health insurance. At some point, you will have to use a dedicated health insurance website or contact individual health insurance companies on your own. What you’ll be looking for is information regarding:
- Types of coverage offered
- What each type of coverage provides
- How much your annual premiums would be
- Annual limit and deductibles for each plan
My state insurance department isn’t helpful; is there any place else I can look?
There are a number of other online resources where you can go for information. Wikipedia offers a rather extensive list of American health insurance companies, complete with links, although they are not necessarily always a trusted source of information. They may be a good starting point to get website links for larger insurance companies, but they probably won’t provide any useful information beyond that.
Outside of Wikipedia, there are also trade organizations like America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP). AHIP is a national trade organization for health insurance providers working on their behalf for marketing, informational, and advocacy purposes.
Their website provides one of the most extensive lists of health insurance providers in the country, providing both the names and website links of member insurance companies. Keep in mind that they are unlikely to list companies who are not part of the organization. This is typical of most trade organizations.
Will my employer have a list of health insurance providers?
Most employers only offer one or two options for health care coverage to their employees. Yet it’s also likely that they have information regarding all of the insurance providers available in your area. They would have to have this information in order to compare policies before offering employees a benefits package. The only question is whether your employer would be willing to share this information with you. The best way to go about it is to set an appointment with your human resources department and discuss it with them.
Your co-workers are an excellent resource as well. Sometimes their spouses will have health insurance through their employers, using a different provider than the company in which you work. By surveying your co-workers with working spouses, you can find out who has what health insurance coverage. You may also discover a co-worker who does not subscribe to the company health plan because his or her spouse has a better plan through their employer.
As a last resort, you can simply run a standard Internet search using your favorite search engine; just be prepared to wade through a ton of websites that have no meaningful information before finding the lists were after.
Whether your employer offers healthcare coverage or not, you can still search the Internet for online health insurance rates by entering your ZIP code in the box provided.
