Health Insurance in San Diego
San Diego Medical Insurance Quotes – Don't Give Your Identity To Fake Websites
Rogue health insurance websites are set up to capture personal information from people trying to get instant quotes, and then the websites sell that information to agents. In a recent Google search using the terms “Maternity Insurance Plans” and Pregnancy Health Insurance,” nearly 50% of the top 20 results were rogue websites. There are many legitimate San Diego medical insurance websites that will protect your information, so you need to be able to tell the difference between good and bad websites. Clicking the “Get Quote” button at rogue websites, basically tells them to “Please have up to 8 health insurance agents call me for the next 8 weeks to sell me a policy,” and “Please sell my email address to health insurance agents and email list services so I can receive their emails.” I’ll show you how to recognize these fake quote websites before you give them your personal information.
About 10 years ago, I left the corporate world to start my own business. I needed to set up health insurance for my family so I went online and searched for San Diego Medical Insurance. I figured the top links should be the best ones to visit so I did. I read a little bit of information on the first website, and it said I would receive instant San Diego health insurance quotes by filling out the website’s quote request form, so I filled out the form. After filling in the form and hitting the “Get Quote” button, the website sent me to a page that said 5-8 agents would be contacting me to provide the requested quotes. About 20 seconds later my phone started ringing, and for the next 2 months I received daily phone calls from agents wanting to sell me health insurance. The junk emails were actually worse because they never stopped and seemed to multiply as time went by. I eventually had to get a new email address (this was before spam filters).
About 10 years ago, I left the corporate world to start my own business. I needed to set up health insurance for my family so I went online and searched for San Diego Medical Insurance. I figured the top links should be the best ones to visit so I did. I read a little bit of information on the first website, and it said I would receive instant San Diego health insurance quotes by filling out the website’s quote request form, so I filled out the form. After filling in the form and hitting the “Get Quote” button, the website sent me to a page that said 5-8 agents would be contacting me to provide the requested quotes. About 20 seconds later my phone started ringing, and for the next 2 months I received daily phone calls from agents wanting to sell me health insurance. The junk emails were actually worse because they never stopped and seemed to multiply as time went by. I eventually had to get a new email address (this was before spam filters).
As a result of that experience I learned the telltale signs of rogue websites and can now recognize them quickly. Here is the list of red flags to watch for:
Using longer keyword searches, you’ll find that rogue San Diego health insurance websites are pretty common in Google searches. To avoid becoming a phone and email spam victim you need to be careful to ensure you are working with a legitimate San Diego medical insurance website. The signs to look for are Google Insurance Ads, Agent/Broker links, no insurance license, bad privacy policies, the disclaimer, or text that says the website is not an insurer or a broker. Following these precautions will help you keep your personal information safe.
- Google insurance ads on the website – legitimate California health insurance brokers wouldn’t display competitive ads on their websites.
- The website contains a link for "Agents" or "Brokers" - This typically means the site is going to sell your information to the agents/brokers that sign up to use the website's service. Look through ALLthe links, bottom, top, and sides of the webpage.
- Quickly scan the privacy policy, especially the first few paragraphs, to see if they are going to provide your information to third parties - If so, they plan to sell your information to agents or email list services.
- Look to see if the website displays an insurance license number (this is commonly at the bottom of the page) – if no license the website could be a rogue or a national company that won’t be as familiar with the details of the California health insurance market.
- Look for the following text “this website provides a free service and is not an insurer or agent/broker,” or something similar near the top or bottom of the webpage – this identifies a marketing website that will sell your personal information to agents or refer you to national broker for a referral fee.
- Read the Disclaimer at the bottom of the quote request page – rogue websites must tell you if they will have agents call you.
- The quote request form should not require your home address – this isn’t necessary to provide a quote, but will result in you getting junk mail.
- The form asks for the best time to contact you - this definitely means that agents will be calling you.
Using longer keyword searches, you’ll find that rogue San Diego health insurance websites are pretty common in Google searches. To avoid becoming a phone and email spam victim you need to be careful to ensure you are working with a legitimate San Diego medical insurance website. The signs to look for are Google Insurance Ads, Agent/Broker links, no insurance license, bad privacy policies, the disclaimer, or text that says the website is not an insurer or a broker. Following these precautions will help you keep your personal information safe.
Getting The Biggest Benefit From A Health Insurance Policy
To get the fullest benefit from a health insurance plan, you have to know what benefits your policy will provide. Free benefits are now provided by all San Diego health insurance plans, and many provide discounts on wellness services outside of the traditional medical benefits. The trick is how to know what these extra benefits are in your plan.
Many people don’t actually read the Explanation of Coverage (EOC) or the brochure about their plan. Many are unaware of even the basic elements of their plan. To get the full benefit from your health insurance San Diego residents need to review the EOC. You don’t need to read the full EOC, but you should review the information that covers deductibles, office visits, out of pocket limits, and brand/generic prescription benefits. Doing this will show you that your plan will provide free preventive health benefits such as mammograms, Pap smears, flu shots, annual physicals, and some preventive lab tests.
The EOC will also outline for you what procedures are subject to the deductible and co-pay (your out-of-pocket expense), along with what you should expect to pay if an emergency occurs. You’ll also discover that you can save money by going to an urgent care clinic instead of a emergency room.
Some health insurance companies have shifted their emphasis from health insurance to health improvement and maintenance and will pay for the cost, or provide discounts on the cost of gym membership, nutritional counseling, or plans to stop smoking. If you were trying to lose weight and knew that you could get these services at no cost, wouldn’t you take advantage of them? If your goal was to stop smoking, and the insurance company would cover the cost of the patch, wouldn’t you want to know that?
The information about what your San Diego medical insurance policy provides is available to everyone, but only if you spend the time to review your policy. For example, you can see an Ophthalmologist (Eye doctor) as part of your health insurance benefits, and get a prescription for contacts or glasses. There’s no need for a stand-alone Vision plan to get these benefits.
It can be expensive to provide to get health insurance for you and your family, so you’ll want to maximize the benefits you receive. By taking full advantage of the free benefits of your health insurance policy, you will be healthier and possibly require fewer visits to your doctor.
Many people don’t actually read the Explanation of Coverage (EOC) or the brochure about their plan. Many are unaware of even the basic elements of their plan. To get the full benefit from your health insurance San Diego residents need to review the EOC. You don’t need to read the full EOC, but you should review the information that covers deductibles, office visits, out of pocket limits, and brand/generic prescription benefits. Doing this will show you that your plan will provide free preventive health benefits such as mammograms, Pap smears, flu shots, annual physicals, and some preventive lab tests.
The EOC will also outline for you what procedures are subject to the deductible and co-pay (your out-of-pocket expense), along with what you should expect to pay if an emergency occurs. You’ll also discover that you can save money by going to an urgent care clinic instead of a emergency room.
Some health insurance companies have shifted their emphasis from health insurance to health improvement and maintenance and will pay for the cost, or provide discounts on the cost of gym membership, nutritional counseling, or plans to stop smoking. If you were trying to lose weight and knew that you could get these services at no cost, wouldn’t you take advantage of them? If your goal was to stop smoking, and the insurance company would cover the cost of the patch, wouldn’t you want to know that?
The information about what your San Diego medical insurance policy provides is available to everyone, but only if you spend the time to review your policy. For example, you can see an Ophthalmologist (Eye doctor) as part of your health insurance benefits, and get a prescription for contacts or glasses. There’s no need for a stand-alone Vision plan to get these benefits.
It can be expensive to provide to get health insurance for you and your family, so you’ll want to maximize the benefits you receive. By taking full advantage of the free benefits of your health insurance policy, you will be healthier and possibly require fewer visits to your doctor.