Consumer Reports: Best health insurance

http://www.consumerreports.org/health/insurance/best-health-plans/overview/best-health-plans-ov.htm

37,481 readers show you how to make the right choice
Last reviewed: September 2009

With health-care reform on center stage in Washington, one of the main questions in the debate is whether the health insurance that consumers currently have will suffer.


Illustration by Eva Tatcheva

Guess what? Consumers might not love their insurance that much to begin with.

Only 64 percent of readers in our survey said they were very or completely satisfied with their plan, a lukewarm response that's a slight drop from the 67 percent in our 2007 report. In terms of services we rate, that puts satisfaction with health insurance above satisfaction with cable TV, a perennial whipping post, but below pharmacies and real-estate agents.

The findings from the Consumer Reports National Research Center were based on responses from 37,481 subscribers reporting on their experiences over the course of a year. The numbers do not represent the experience of the population as a whole, but they do provide a good benchmark for the two kinds of managed-care plans the respondents used, health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and preferred provider organizations (PPOs). In fact, 84 percent of our survey respondents were in an employer-based plan, which they could keep under most health-reform proposals now before Congress.

Our survey suggests that, reform or not, some of them might welcome a change. Eighteen percent of our respondents complained that they had trouble getting to see a plan doctor at some point during the year. And among users of some lower-rated plans, as many as 16 percent complained that it was either difficult or impossible to get needed care.

The real news this year is that choosing an HMO over a PPO seems like a smarter choice than in the past. HMOs have usually been better on costs in the past, and that was true in our survey. Those in HMOs paid less for premiums than people in PPOs ($1,466 compared with $2,003) and less out of pocket for medical bills. HMOs scored better than PPOs on billing and telephone customer service. In the past, HMO members who were seriously ill had more trouble getting access to care, but this time there was little difference between HMOs and PPOs, in part because the PPO experience got worse. Of HMO members who were ill, 15 percent had problems getting care, compared with 14 percent of PPO members.

FULL story at link.

I'd be curious to see how CR would rate the NHS.

went home to Dublin. I don't blame him.

I have always wondered where they got the numbers they quote that most Americans like their current insurance.

... we're all too scared to quit our insurance without being completely sure the replacement would actually be the same or better. But do we LIKE this state of affairs? Hell no. Do we understand we are being gamed? Hell yes.

I hope to all the gods that we finally get a Medicare For All provision that proves so successful that private insurers just go belly up once and for all.

Hekate

Are you covered by an employer health insurance plan? NO

Do you buy your own insurance? YES

How much do you pay? $1500 A MONTH

Are you satisfied with your plan? YES BUT IT COSTS AS MUCH AS A HOUSE? IS THIS WHAT I GET FOR WORKING FOR MYSELF.

Here's a tid bit:

"Over all between 2010 and 2019, the legislation would reduce the number of Americans without health insurance to 17 million from 51 million at a cost of $1.042 trillion, the budget office estimated."
NYT http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/wider-employer-provided-coverage-projected-under-house-plan/

That's $100 billion a year for to get coverage out there and lessen costs. Sure the 17 million have to be covered
but get this bill now and make that a priority now too!