Health Insurance

[moguls]

I'm shopping for a new health insurance policy for my wife and myself. I've been looking at Golden Rule's HSA policy. I'm located in Tennessee and it appears that Golden does quite a bit of business in my area.

Does anyone out there have any experience with Golden Rule?

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Moguls
(ER'd since Jan 04 and loving it)

I had Golden Rule for a while and don't recall any problems. However, I don't think I had any claims,
which, of course, is the real test.

John Galt

[sgeeeee]

When I retired and had to find my own health insurance, Golden Rule was on my short list (along with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona and Humana). Golden Rule offered a policy with high deductible and 100% payment after the deductible was reached that I found appealing.

They were incredibly slow and difficult to work with during the application process. Eventually, I had acceptance from the other two companies and still no word from Golden Rule. Finally, after over 2 months of waiting and prodding them, they contacted me and wanted to sell me an expensive interim policy to bridge my insurance gap while they "completed" (or started) the underwriting process.

I was not impressed and went with Humana. I think Golden Rule does a better job in other states (particularly the mid-west). But my advice is to start the application process very early.

[KB]

As someone who works in Healthcare, and with the Blue plans, they might be more expensive than some others but are governed by the Blue Cross/Blue SHield Association in addition to whatever state's requirements there are.

I would always include them in any comparison, and will do so once I'm retired. I currently have Kaiser in CA and am happy with them. I would choose Blue Shield of CA if it was offered.

[Michael]

I also like the Blue plans. I had them when I was working, and went with a private policy from them when I retired. I am happy with them.

[KB]

With the Blue Plans, there is a program that allows you to go to a BC/BS provider in another state and get their allowed amount to use in processing your claim. What that does is save you from paying the difference between the billed amount and allowed amount. Can be quite a savings. The plans are sharing their provider discounts with Blue plans in other states.

[Michael]

This is useful, since few can afford to pay what the uninsured are billed.