Personal professional enrollment support is available for all of the benefit plans listed on this page. Send your question by e-mail for fast OnlineAdviser response. Limited telephone support (800) 609-0683. Office hours posted daily on Twitter @FreedomBenefits   Most Liberal Eligibility Value 24 Hour Accident - up to $10,000 of supplemental health insurance coverage for emergency treatment of injuries at a cost of about $2 per day. Can be used as a stand-alone coverage or added to other insurance. Value Emergency Room - add $1,000 additional emergency room coverage for $1 per day for the whole family Most Affordable Value Med Insurance - 3 question simple medical eligibility and immediate approval for supplemental doctor and hospital benefits Long Term Major Medical Celticare - well-known renewable individual major medical insurance for discriminating healthy applicants UnitedHealthcare - Golden Rule Insurance, a member of America's largest health plan Dental Insurance Secure DentalOne - one lifetime deductible of $100 and then up to $1,250 per year coverage UnitedHealthOne Dental & Vision - national PPO network of more than 73,000 providers Online Life Insurance Great Start Child Life Insurance - inexpensive permanent insurance that can be gifted by parents and grandparents Guarantee Trust term life Insurance - fast, easy and inexpensive online term insurance coverage up to $250,000 International Term Life - up to $2 million coverage issued by Lloyds online specifically for those who spend time outside of the US Simple whole life insurance - the fastest way to get affordable permanent coverage up to $50,000. Online underwriting, no exam. Smart term life insurance - up to $500,000 coverage directly online without an exam or blood test QuoteIntelligence Term life insurance - find the lowest rates, compare features & eligibility requirements and then apply online with the best insurance companies in less than 30 seconds.

Maryland health insurance exchange Maryland is an early innovator of insurance exchange technology with 12 commercial health insurance companies that issue individual medical insurance and 16 companies that issue small group insurance as well as the state-sponsored Maryland Health Insurance Plan (MHIP) for high risk residents who have been denied coverage due to a pre-existing medical condition. These standard health insurance plans may not be affordable to all residents and require a waiting period before coverage is provided for pre-existing medical conditions. This Web page lists some of the most popular low cost commercial health insurance plans and related benefits. All of these policies offer secure online enrollment and professional OnlineAdviser personal enrollment support. Please note that while many of these choices could be included in more than one of the suggested usage categories, each plan is listed only once for the sake of brevity. Your enrollment adviser is available to discuss suitability of any plan for your specific situation. Maryland insurance & benefit news Maryland had the 4th highest health insurance costs of all states in 2008 with an average family premium of $13,504 per year. (The average annual premium for a U.S. family covered under an employer-sponsored health plan in 2008 was $12,298 according to The Commonwealth Fund report. The overall quality of health care ranked 17th out of the 51 states (including DC). Maryland regulates the benefits required for both individual major medical and group health insurance plans, known as "mandated benefits". Short Term Insurance Celtic Insurance - competitive rates from a well-known insurer Secure STM - along with its 12 month and 36 month options, this may be the highest quality short term coverage Intermediate Term Inbound Immigrant - up to five years of liberal health insurance coverage after immigration including maternity coverage, emergency and other essential benefits Supplemental Insurance Smart Accident Insurance - supplemental coverage for emergency treatment of accidents and injuries for as little as $20 per month. Can be used as a stand-alone accident plan or to increase other insurance benefits. Value Access Guarantee - everyone qualifies for this plan that pays in addition to any other insurance Maryland Insurance Law The Maryland  Insurance Administration Web site contains a link to the full text of Maryland's insurance laws and regulations.  The Web site has not yet developed resources to help individuals find commercial low cost health plans like mini-med or core coverage, specific illness policies, supplemental insurance and basic health insurance. The state insurance department can be reached by telephone at 410-468-2244 or by mail at 200 St. Paul Place, Suite 2700 Baltimore MD 21202. The state children's health insurance plan (CHIP) Web site is Maryland Children’s Health Program (MCHP). Non-insurance Discount Plans Careington PPO Discount Plans - the nation's leading network PPO discount provider allows a no-risk trial of any discount plan for only a $20 processing fee Drug Card America - a free prescription drug card that an be used nationwide Essential Dental Solutions - simple, inexpensive, no waiting period, up to $500 treatment per year Rx Pay Card - $10, $20, or $30 payments for hundreds of popular prescriptions. See International Coverage and Travel Insurance Listings

Maryland Insurance News

2/17/2011 Maryland was granted more than $6 million by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to build off a prototype that models the point of access for the insurance exchange. The technology foundation used by Maryland in its Healthy Maryland initiative is currently being used by several other states. This “point” solution will extend the existing Healthy Maryland platform.

1/19/2011 Child-only health insurance for children with significant medical problems will be available through an open enrollment period mandated by federal state law during the month of July. All children, regardless of medical condition, continue to be eligible for insurance when applying as a dependent on a parent’s policy and healthy children are eligible for child-only insurance at any time. When applying for child-only insurance for more than one child, make a separate application for each child.

12/16/2010 Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene officials met representatives of 44 other states and numerous employees of the federal Health and Human Services Department in Washington DC this week for a two-day working meeting to discuss the next steps in establish a government-run health insurance exchange under the American Health Benefit Exchange Model Act. Their attendance at this meeting was paid for by a $1 million federal grant awarded by HHS in September to the state for research how to set up an insurance exchange. Two states (Alaska and Minnesota) declined to participate, saying that it was a waste of taxpayer money. Four other states (not identified in press reports) that received federal grants did not send representatives to the meeting. Attendees included representatives of 16 states that are suing the federal government in an attempt to overturn the federal health reform law; specifically the requirement that forces individuals to buy health insurance on the insurance exchange or pay a hefty tax fine.

In its initial federal grant request for the insurance exchange project, Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said that it would: 1) Utilize the previously established Maryland Health Care Reform Coordinating Council to outline issues pertaining to: engaging the public, gathering and analyzing public comment, conducting focused research, and developing options for consideration by the Coordinating Council, 2) Create an information infrastructure plan that assesses existing information systems, identifies gaps and needs, and proposes strategies to achieve seamless eligibility and enrollment in health coverage, 3) Develop an outreach and communications strategy for 2011-2014, including market research to guide the design of the Exchange 4) Fund Maryland-specific studies of public and private health insurance coverage and health care expenditures to determine whether to merge the individual and small group markets and whether to provide additional protection against adverse selection, development of governance options for the successful operation of the Exchange, and development of operational plans and a sustainable business model for the Exchange, 5) Assess current public sector technological capabilities, current private sector technological capabilities and technology solutions that may be available from the federal government, and 6) Determine whether the existing public or private sector capacity could be adapted for online public access to facilitate eligibility determination, choice of coverage, application, enrollment, the specific options for connecting an eligibility determination system with other components of the Exchange, and develop an RFP for eligibility system expansion or acquisition.

The meeting reportedly did not address the role of the commercial health insurance exchanges on the implementation of new competing government systems. The model act does not address inter-state insurance exchange proposals nor insurance sales across state lines. Federal officials admitted that they may not be able to provide further guidance until 2012. Meanwhile, most states are motivated to continue to meet requirements to obtain additional funding promised by the federal government for the establishment of insurance exchange by 2014. Freedom Benefits has previously voiced the opinion that the huge amount of money being spent to set up alternate insurance sales system technologies could be better used providing health benefits to the public. We proposed on the Universal Health Insurance blog that adequate commercial insurance sales systems are already in place that could be modified in a public/private partnership to make health insurance more affordable.

5/14/2010 Diabetes Coverage: A new resource to help find health insurance for diabetics in Maryland is now available at Freedom Benefits.