individual health insurance plan in salt lake city

Posted by jennah kellen on July 4th, 2019

Why is Health Insurance Important?

While no one plans to get sick or hurt, most people need medical care at some point. Health insurance covers these costs and offers many other essential benefits. Here are some of the reasons why a health insurance plan is crucial for you and your family according to HealthCare.gov:

  • Health insurance covers essential health benefits critical to maintaining your health and treating illnesses and accidents. While it is important to manage your health and wellbeing, it is comforting to have something to rely on to in moments of need.
  • Health insurance protects from unexpected, high medical costs, relieving the stress and worry of accidents.
  • Covered in-network healthcare is affordable, even before meeting the deductible.
  • Free preventive care for vaccines, screenings, and some check-ups before meeting the deductible.
  • Insurance companies now offer network services costing far less than out-of-network physicians and hospitals.
  • A qualified health insurance plan nullifies the need to pay penalties for not having health insurance. In 2016 the fine for failing to have health insurance was 5 per person in the household, 7.50 per child, or 2.5% of total household income, whichever is greater.
  • Anyone with a preexisting condition can no longer be denied health insurance.
  • Health insurance companies can no longer cancel an individual’s health policy due to a chronic disease or discriminate against individuals with a critical condition and charge them more for health insurance.

Individual Health Insurance in Utah

Individual Health Care Insurance in Utah uses a federally-run exchange system where the state conforms to the much shorter open enrollment period the federal government implemented in 2018.  Enrollment was hampered by the national funding cuts for exchange marketing and enrollment assistance up to the free enrollment period, however some local organizations, such as Take Care Utah and Utah Healthy Policy Project assist the underserved Utahns.

Open enrollment for 2019 in Utah ended December 15, 2018, but ACA-compliant plans are still possible for Utahns with acceptable proceedings.

Three insurers offering 2019 health insurance plans in Utah are Molina Healthcare of Utah, Select Health Inc., and University of Utah Health Insurance Plans. These are made possible through the Utah exchange.

Individual Health Insurance Plan Enrollment Statistics in Utah

In late 2013, it was estimated that out of 331,000 residents in Utah, there were 206,000 who had qualified for premium subsidies to offset the cost of their plans. During the mid-April in 2014, when the first open enrollment ended, 84,601 people were able to complete their registration in the qualified health plans through the Utah exchange. It was reported that 86% of them received subsidies to lower their premiums.On the other hand, the 2016 private plan enrollment in Utah had doubled compared to 2014. The effectuated admission resulted in a number of 164,415 enrollees.

The 2018 coverage recorded 194,118 people who purchased individual market plans through the Utah exchange, which was 1.6% lower than the recorded enrollees for 2017.

Group Health Insurance in Utah

Group Health Insurance is the most desired and sought-after job benefit a business can offer. Most employees are willing to accept lower wages if their employers sponsor their health insurance.

Having the right Group Health Insurance plan can increase productivity in a business, allowing them to attract and retain the necessary skills and talent to help their business thrive.

Once a company is legally considered as a business in Utah, they are automatically approved for Group Health Insurance upon applying. Companies with 50 or more employees are legally obligated to provide Health Insurance coverage while for companies with fewer than 50 employees are not mandated, but will still attract the best prospective employees.

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jennah kellen

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jennah kellen
Joined: June 20th, 2019
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