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Region
Age Value for Price Customer Service Claims Service Website and Apps

How to Pick Health Insurance Policy

Health insurance is different than other types of insurance policies. We can’t go into a health insurance agency to ask questions. We can’t bundle health insurance like we can with auto, home and even life in some instances. This leaves us doing more research to find a health insurer that makes sense for us. If you have your health insurance from an employer, it means you might only have one or two choices. You also might find limited choices in the ACA marketplace and individual market.

Our team is in the same boat. We advise you to find out your choices and then evaluate what the policies offer. Compare that to your current health status and financial needs. Also, this is the time to check out what others are saying about the healthcare companies and how they rate the items that are so important. You want to find about price, customer service and what’s likely most important to many consumers, claims. While you many go years without filing an auto insurance claim, you’ll use health insurance more regularly. Our Best Health Insurance Companies review is here to help you find the company that fits best for your annual healthcare needs.

Here are what some policyholders had to say when asked to make a comment about their experience (you can see all comments for each company by clicking on the logo in the table above):

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Centene

In every respect, they are good, professional and committed to customer service.

The prices are the best.

I would recommend them to family and friends without any hesitation.

Centene, a St. Louis-based insurer, made its name as a Medicaid managed care payer. It's the largest Medicaid managed care insurer in the US. In recent years, the insurer expanded into the Affordable Care Act marketplace and Medicare Advantage. Centene now offers Medicaid in 24 states, Medicare Advantage in 19 states, Affordable Care Act plans in 20 states, as well as TRICARE and correction facilities offerings.

Centene ranked number one in its first year in the Best Health Insurance Companies survey. Centene received the top mark across the board: claims, price, customer service and website/app. A whopping 89% of Centene members said they would recommend the insurer to others. That number led the field. Centene also showed support across multiple age groups. Millennials and Baby Boomers ranked Centene as the top health insurer. Generation Xers voted it as number two. It also ranked number one across each region except the west where it took second place.

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Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina

Good coverage, great copayments. I am glad I have options for doctors and offices.

They are very straightforward and you should never hesitate to ask questions. I would recommend it because they make it very easy. I love that they respond very quickly to emails and always answer/solve any questions/problems/concerns anytime I call or email.

Premiums are fair, deductibles and copays are reasonable, a well-known name and company with an excellent reputation.

BCBS of NC's PPO network includes 96% of medical doctors and 99% of general acute-care hospitals in the state. BCBS of NC also offers BlueCard coverage outside of North Carolina. In other words, you can still get in-network care outside of the state. The insurer is part of the larger Blue Cross Blue Shield Association with 35 other Blues plans.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina finished second for website/app and third for claims, price and customer service. More importantly, 82% said they recommend the insurer. Ninety-six percent of BCBS of NC members said they plan to renew.

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Cigna

This company is like a warm blanket that covers up all your insecurities when it comes to being healthy and having resources.

They are a great company, good online resources, and always helpful when it comes to problems that arise.

This company has a great reputation and offers a great array of services. It has great prices and is easy to talk to someone and find what you need.

Cigna has grown its employer plan market in recent years as other health insurers have focused more on Medicare Advantage and Medicaid. Cigna now owns the pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts. Health insurers have increasingly moved into the pharmacy benefit manager business as a way to streamline costs. Members might not notice whether a pharmacy benefit manager is in-house, but it can allow the insurer to contain costs.

Cigna performed best for customer service (second) and website/app (third). Seventy-five percent of Cigna members said they would recommend the insurer and 93% said they plan to renew. Those numbers were both in the middle of the road. Millennials ranked Cigna as the second best health insurer, while it ranked near the bottom for Baby Boomers.

Best Health Insurance Companies by Age

Here is how insurance companies ranked when data were analyzed by age and region.

Best health insurance companies for millennials:

  1. Centene
  2. Cigna
  3. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida
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Best health insurance companies for Gen X:

  1. Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield
  2. Centene
  3. Emblem Health (also Health Insurance Plan of New York; ConnectiCare)

Best health insurance companies for Baby Boomers:

  1. Centene
  2. HealthCare Services Corp -- BCBS of Illinois, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas
  3. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina

Best Health Insurance Companies by Region

Best health insurance companies for Northeast Region:

  1. Centene
  2. Humana
  3. Anthem -- known as BCBS in Colorado and Nevada, BCBS of Georgia, RightCHOICE and Healthy Alliance in Missouri, Community Insurance in Ohio, BCBS of Wisconsin as well as Compcare

Best health insurance companies for Midwest Region:

  1. Centene
  2. Cigna
  3. Anthem -- known as BCBS in Colorado and Nevada, BCBS of Georgia, RightCHOICE and Healthy Alliance in Missouri, Community Insurance in Ohio, BCBS of Wisconsin as well as Compcare
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Best health insurance companies for South Region:

  1. Centene
  2. Humana
  3. Aetna/Coventry

Best health insurance companies for West Region:

  1. Aetna/Coventry
  2. Centene
  3. Cigna

What We Surveyed

We commissioned a survey of top company policyholders. Many of those surveyed had multiple types of policies. The survey collected customer ratings for 20 leading companies in the auto category and 15 leading companies in each of the home, health and life categories. Only current customers of the insurers on our lists were surveyed, and the survey was not open to the general public on the Insure.com website.We asked policyholders about the following categories for ranking purposes:

Value For Price
value-for-price
Usefulness of website & mobile apps
website-mobile-apps
Customer Service
customer-service
Plan To Renew
plan-to-renew
Claims satisfaction
claims-satisfaction
Would Recommend
recommend

We also asked for feedback and anecdotes to help people who may be looking to purchase a policy with their current insurance provider. And we asked questions that are not rated or ranked on, such as why they first purchased from the company and how they prefer to deal with their insurer, as this may be valuable to you when deciding if the company is the right fit for your needs. To view the extra information, be sure to click on the company logo to view its individual page.

How We Ranked

Our team of insurance and data experts ranked and identified the best car insurance companies based on what policyholders in our survey have to say about their experiences. This is an independent editorial analysis devoid of affiliations or partnerships of any kind - companies did not pay to be included. The A.M. Best financial ratings represent an assessment of an insurer's ability to meet its financial obligations to policyholders. These are separate from the editorial ranking.

Consumer's feedback are weighted as follows:

Price
35%
Customer service
25%
Claims
20%
Website and app
10%
Recommendation
5%
Renew
5%

The expert team reviews and analyzed the survey results to share with consumers because we believe it's important to view and evaluate real-life feedback when shopping for insurance. Getting more information is always better when researching the best insurance companies, so continue on to see what our surveyed policyholders had to say.

Why You Should Trust Us

We’re not only health insurance experts who enjoy sharing our knowledge. We’re also consumers just like you. As consumers, we want to know what to expect when it comes to a company’s claims service and if the insurer has a decent website and apps. We, too, want a good price, great customer service and to feel comfortable when deciding on a company to purchase an insurance policy. For this reason, we take our Best Health Insurance Company’s survey seriously so that all of us can find the insurance company that is the best fit for our needs.

Whether it’s your first-time buying insurance or switching insurance providers or 25th time, our mission is to provide you with a quick and easy way to review and determine which companies will be the best fit for you. Our reviews and rankings are unbiased and based on the earnest ratings and feedback from surveyed policyholders.

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