Moving need health insurance info. (Carmel: deductible, income, standard of living)

[CaliToIndy]

Hi, we are moving from S.F bay area, my husband is self employed and we need to know how health insurance works... we are Kaiser Permanente members and its like a one stop shop....everything is so convenient, you see the doctors, in their office and get your blood, x-ray or prescriptions filled right there, before you leave the premises, is there a similar insurance plan.
What is the best hospital in and around Carmel.Is blue cross, Blue shield or Aetna the insurance companies or there is some other insurance company.
Which one of these has the best Individual Heath plans.

[domergurl]

Wellpoint/Anthem BC/BS is HQ'd in Indy, so they are the big dog in town for health insurance.

If you are sick in this state, the best place to be is in the Indy area. St. Vincent and Clarian (IU medical) seem to be everywhere. There is also a Community Hospital network. I've had great luck dealing with St. Vincent.

[CaliToIndy]

Thanks a bunch, really appreciate it.

[sweetana3]

Do beware that Indiana is not the most forward thinking states for health insurance or elderly issues. Our company's eldercare assistants who provide information for employees, did not recommend bringing elderly relatives here for that reason.

Just be aware of the issue and check carefully ahead of time.

[stephle2255]

Also a need-to-know, Indiana has one of the highest average health care premium costs in the nation because there are a ton of obese people and smokers. Family plans with fair deductibles, around $500 a year with a PPO, are gonna run you monthly about $700-900. Seriously. For just me and my son I pay $642 a month for a PPO with a $500 a year deductible, and the company I work for has changed insurance groups every year for 3 years to get them to stay in that range.

I currently have Aetna, and most of my doctors take it. PPO for employee plus spouse and child(ren) runs about $960 a month for the premium, and you're talking 80/20 coverage with $25 office co-pays and a 4 tier prescription plan. In my experience PPO is the best, Sagamore and Humana both have great plans but again, very very expensive. You might be used to that being from Cali but you have to remember the standard of living here is less than San Fran so the average income for similar jobs could be pretty different. I'm in HR so I'm pretty familiar with this stuff, let me know if you have any other questions!

[ImGibby]

I am self employed as well and currently have my family of 4 insurred with Assurant for $280/mo...this was the cheapest I could find but still offered the level of protection that I was comfortable with. Decent deductibles and out of pocket / lifetime max. #'s.

One thing I like about it is there is no requirement to be reffered to a specialist through your family dr. (there is a specific term for this but I can't recall at the moment) as most insurance requires, which means more money out of your pocket to go to 2 doctors rather than just going to an ENT if thats where your sure you need to go. With Assurant you can go to whatever dr. / specialist you want and it is covered.

I would give them a look.