FreedomBenefits.net
Affordable health insurance
The health insurance exchange makes it easy to find affordable high quality coverage available in your home state.
low cost health insurance
personal enrollment support

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

Basic Health Insurance - the least expensive plan in the exchange with the lowest level health benefits
Core Health Insurance - the nation's most popular defined benefit health plans with guaranteed acceptance from US Fire Insurance Company
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

Basic Health Insurance - the least expensive plan in the exchange with the lowest level health benefits
Secure Lite STM - the lowest priced major medical insurance for 1 to 12 months
Secure Saver STM - $2 million maximum coverage for 1-12 months at an ultra-low rate
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.

low cost health insurance

Missouri health insurance exchange

More than ten commercial insurance companies offer individual major medical insurance in Missouri and 50 small group health insurance plans as well as the state-sponsored Missouri High Risk Health Plan is available to residents who have been declined for commercial health insurance due to a pre-existing condition. These standard health insurance plans may not be affordable to all residents. 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.

low cost health insurance

Missouri insurance & benefit news

Missouri had the 16th lowest health insurance costs of all states in 2008 with an average family premium of $11,557 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 36th out of the 51 states (including DC).
Missouri is the only state that requires all employers to maintain a tax-qualified employee benefit  called a Section 125 premium-only plan.

Short Term Insurance

Celtic Insurance - competitive rates from a well-known insurer
Markel Smart STM - popular and affordable short term major medical insurance with fast online approval
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


low cost health insurance

Missouri Insurance Law

The Missouri Department of Insurance Web site contains a link to the full text of all of the state's insurance laws as well as an online form that allows consumers to submit insurance questions.  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 (573) 751-4126 or by mail at PO Box 690,  Jefferson City MO 65102. The state children's health insurance plan (CHIP) Web site is Missouri HealthNet for Kids (MHK).

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

Missouri Insurance News

2/12/2011 With dozens of health plans choices available online offering a wide range of pricing and benefits, how do you find the best combination of price and benefits? Celtic Insurance realizes that the choices can be overwhelming; the company offers more than 40 possible health plan designs in many parts of the United States. A new feature called "Help Me Choose" lets users easily and quickly select the benefits they value most and narrows the list down to a few of the best choices. No personal information is required other than zip code and date of birth.

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 March. 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 Missouri Department of Insurance 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, Missouri said that it would: 1) Provide a planning and development infrastructure to support launching an insurance Exchange, 2) Determine the organizational structure of any such Exchange, 3) Explore the establishment of a regional Exchange with neighboring States, and 4) Compile cost estimates for providing coverage to potential populations and gather health status for such populations.

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.

7/18/2010 A new high risk health insurance plan run by RightChoice, a subsidiary of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield is now available. Premiums are paid in part by a federal grant of $81 million that reduces the premium cost. Premiums are the same as other similar commercial insurance at $423 to $972 per month, depending on age. The annual deductible set at $1,000 and out-of-pocket expenditures limited to $5,950. The state’s previous high-risk pool called Missouri Health Insurance Pool (MHIP) has operated since 1991 and has more than 4,000 enrollees, charges higher rates.

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

5/11/2010 Missouri voters will decide the fate of the health insurance mandate in the upcoming August 2 general election. Legal experts predict that the federal law requiring insurance will eventually prevail, regardless of strong public opposition, but we could face years of legal wrangling and consumer confusion ahead.


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The content on this Web page is maintained by consumer finance writer Tony Novak. Comments, feedback, questions and corrections are welcome to help keep content relevant and up-to-date. Contact the author directly by e-mail, on Twitter or through the contact information included on his Web site.

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