Best health insurance companies of 2022

Health Care Service Corp.

Health Care Service Corp. is a member-owned health insurance company based in Chicago. Its network includes five states, more than 325,000 physicians and other providers, and approximately 9,250 facilities. It offers dental, employer plans, family health insurance, individual health insurance, Medicare and Medicaid.

Health Care Service Corp. received high scores from J.D. Power and NAIC.

Highmark

Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield is a non-profit health insurance company based in Pittsburgh and serves the 29 counties in the western part of the state and 13 counties in the northeast. It offers individual and family plans, children’s health insurance, Medicare and employer plans.

Highmark has the third-best scores from both NAIC and NCQA.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, now known as Florida Blue, is another BCBS insurance company. Based in Jacksonville, Florida Blue offers individual and family plans, Medicare and business plans. It serves more than 5 million members across Florida and 27 million people across 35 states with its affiliated companies. Florida Blue has the fourth-best score from J.D. Power.

Anthem

Anthem is a for-profit healthcare company based in Indianapolis. It’s one of the largest for-profit healthcare insurers in the country. Anthem is also a part of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. Anthem has more than 45 million members and serves 14 states including California and New York. It offers individual and family plans, Medicare, Medicaid and employer plans.

Anthem is the only insurance company on the list to score a 5.0 from NAIC, which assesses customer complaints.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of NC

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of NC is North Carolina’s BCBS insurer. Based in Durham, BCBS NC has individual and family plans, Medicare, dental, vision, supplemental and ancillary benefits and business plans. Its PPO network includes 96% of medical doctors and 99% of all general acute-care hospitals in North Carolina.

BCBS NC has the fourth best NCQA score and fifth best NAIC score.

Cigna

Cigna, based in Bloomfield, Connecticut, is another of the nation’s large healthcare and insurance companies. Its plans include individual and family plans, Medicare and employer plans. It has relationships with over 1.5 million providers and operates in 30 countries and jurisdictions.

Cigna has the sixth-best score from J.D. Power.

UnitedHealthcare

UnitedHealthcare (UHC) is a large health insurance company based in Minnetonka, Minnesota. UHC’s parent company, UnitedHealth Group, is the largest health insurance company in the country, capturing 12% of the market. Its network includes more than 1.3 million physicians and 6,500 hospitals nationwide. It has individual, employer and business, dental and vision plans as well as Medicare, Medicaid, supplemental plans and more.

Aetna

Aetna is a managed health care company and insurer based in Hartford, Connecticut. Approximately 39 million people rely on Aetna for health coverage. It offers Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans, employer plans, dental and vision, Medicare and Medicaid. It ranks fifth-best using NCQA data.

Health insurance companies with the fewest complaints

Based on NAIC data, the insurance companies with the fewest complaints are Anthem, Kaiser Permanente and Highmark.

How to get the best health insurance

Finding the best health insurance isn’t easy. There is a lot to think about, and every person has their own unique set of needs. However, despite the complexity of the decision, there are some steps you can take to determine your best options.

If you or your spouse is eligible for health insurance through an employer, that may be your best option. Alternatively, you may be eligible for an ACA plan, Medicare, or Medicaid.

Then, check reviews of each insurer to find out which insurer aligns most closely with the things you want in an insurance provider. For instance, is it more important that you keep premiums low, or do you want to minimize costs when you have to pay a visit to the doctor?

In addition, some insurance companies are small, only covering a particular state or even a local area. Perhaps a local insurance company provides excellent service, but if you travel often, you may have to pay high out-of-network costs. In this case, one with a national footprint may be a better choice.

The same can be said for prescription drugs. Are the ones you need covered by a particular plan, and does it have relationships with pharmacies where you need them?

All of these are questions you should answer before committing to a health insurance plan.

How to compare health insurance rates

There are a few different ways you can compare health insurance rates. For instance, if you use the health insurance marketplace, you can easily compare plans from different providers and see deductibles, premiums, co-pays, out-of-pocket maximums and so on. This will let you know how much you will pay on a monthly basis as well as how much you will pay when going to the doctor.

On the other hand, if you are enrolling in a plan through work, you can compare the rates on all of the plans offered there. You should easily be able to sort by things like premium and out-of-pocket maximum. In general, the lower the premium, the higher the deductible, and vice versa.

Also pay attention to the provider network, prescription coverage and anything else that is important to you before selecting a plan.

How to get the best health insurance that’s right for you

Finding the best health insurance for you can be challenging because there are so many plans. Even if you find a plan that looks good, there might be some fine-print item that makes the plan a deal-breaker for you.

To find the best health insurance that’s right for you, Kelly Maxwell, CEO of Seniors Mutual, recommends working with an independent broker or agency to find the right plan. “It’s pretty simple to find the best rates, we even have a quote tool on our website for people to see instantly,” Maxwell says.

What most people don’t know about health insurance

There are several things most people don’t know about health insurance, such as:

Short-term health insurance can be an affordable option

Today, most people either enroll in health plans with their employer or through the health insurance marketplace. However, short-term health insurance can be a cheaper option in some cases, according to Tim Connon is founder of ParamountQuote Insurance Advisors. He says that in some cases, it may be cheaper to use short-term health insurance until you can find an employer that offers a lower group rate.

“If the individual makes a high income — typically above $60,000 a year — they would not qualify for a government subsidy for a policy on the exchange and without that subsidy, their individual health rate could be anywhere between $500 – $1,000 a month in some cases,” Connon says.

There are still options if you miss open enrollment

The federal open enrollment period is 45 days long, giving people time to find the best plan for themselves. However, there might be cases where, despite your best effort, you aren’t able to pick a plan before open enrollment ends. If that is the case, you might still have options, though.

For instance, Native Americans can enroll in exchange plans year-round, as can those who qualify for Medicaid or Children’s Health Insurance Program, which states offer. Another possibility is a qualifying event, which grants you a special enrollment period. Qualifying events include involuntary loss of coverage, marriage and divorce, and moving. Several other life changes may qualify as well.

Getting everyone insured won’t “fix” health spending

The U.S. spends the most per capita in the world on health care. In fact, at $10,586, we spend significantly more per capita than the second-place country. That distinction goes to Switzerland, which spends $7,317 per capita.

But even getting everyone insured won’t fix the problem.

Methodology

To rank the top health insurers, the editors collected data on each company from several independent sources: J.D. Power’s U.S. Commercial Member Health Plan Study, which provides a gauge of customers’ perceptions of their insurer; the National Committee for Quality Assurance’s Health Plan Ratings, which, among other factors, evaluates health plans on the quality of patient care; and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ complaint data, which ranks a company by the number of customer complaints it receives. The editors also collected A.M. Best data, which measures financial strength. A.M. Best data was not available for all insurers and is presented only for informational purposes. It was not used to rank the companies.