Best private family health insurance in Hillsborough County? (Tampa, University: chapel, broker)

[Andre D]

I am planning to move to Hillsborough County (Lutz area) and would need to purchase private family medical insurance. I am self employed as an individual consultant. I currently have Blue Cross/Blue Shield where I live in Maryland. Unfortunately, they do not offer insurance in Hillsborough County for some reason. Although they do offer insurance in other neighboring counties in Tampa. Any thoughts on best private family health insurance for Hillsborough County? I assume any such insurance would allow use of Tampa General Hospital.

[castlechurch]

I am pretty sure BCBS offers individual insurance in Hillsborough through Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, I just priced it last week for a family of 3 (my family). You may have the dates set too far out on the search engine, I priced if for starting next month, but there is a limit to how many days ahead of time you can buy/price it with them. I priced it directly on their website, not through an agent.

Molina Healthcare is available in Hillsborough, but I have no idea if they are any good or not.

I do not have individual insurance yet, so I am also looking; right now it is through an employer.

[Lillie767]

Florida Blue (formerly Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida) writes health insurance in Hillsborough County. You can get alternative plans and quotes on their website.

https://consumer.websales.floridablu...browseplan/all

[Andre D]

Weird, coz I read that Hillsborough is excluded and I recall confirming this with someone at BCBS. Now I just called Florida Blue which confirmed private family health insurance is in fact offered in every Florida county. Anyway, above you don't mention Aetna or Cigna which I think have pretty good reputations. Are you looking at an HMO or PPO? I hear that Tampa General Hospital is quite good, by the way, although I am sure many people here will complain! :-)

[castlechurch]

I have not really gone too deep researching different plans yet, to be honest. Thanks for the tips on Aetna and Cigna.

The best hospitals in the area are probably all the newer ones like St. Josephs North (BayCare), Trinity Medical Center (HCA) , Wesley Chapel Medical Center (Adventist) and then Tampa General. University Hospital (Adventist) is Ok, better since the renovations. The other hospitals in the area are OK too, overall the emergency medical care here is better than it once was, pretty good.

[EngGirl]

I am pretty sure each insurance company will have million of plans that will vary in coverage and in-network doctors so there is no way to compare apples to apples. You plan might consider Tampa General as in-network hospital however doctor you will be seeing won't be able to see you at that hospital. BCBS has so many different plans and some are great while some are not so much. For the past 2 years BCBS increased their prices almost twice. I would recommend talking to insurance broker and getting something that would work for you (for example, is Tampa General is important for you then get a plan that will have it listed as in-network).