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 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 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 Celtic Basic Health Insurance - a trim version of Celticare at a lower price 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.

Ohio health insurance exchange Ohio has 30 commercial health insurance companies licensed to offer individual health insurance and 27 small group health insurance plans. 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. Ohio insurance & benefit news Ohio had the 12th lowest health insurance costs of all states in 2008 with an average family premium of $11,425 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 21st out of the 51 states (including DC). New state laws that will be phased in beginning January 1, 2010 limit the cost of guaranteed issue commercial coverage for high risk individuals to 150% of the standard rate. Ohio does not sponsor a high risk health insurance pool. 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 Ohio Insurance Law The Ohio Department of Insurance Web site contains help sections for each type of insurance including a section on financially assisted health plans and Medicaid.  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 (800) 686-1526 or by mail at P O Box 303351, Montgomery, AL 36130-3351. The state children's health insurance plan (CHIP) Web site is Ohio Healthy Start. 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

Ohio 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.

1/11/2011 Ohio became the 21st state to join in a multi-state lawsuit against the federal government challenging the authority to effect health care reforms. Four states are making separate legal challenges to the law, making the total 25 states fighting against Obamacare. Legal experts believe the case will eventually be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012. We believe that the individual mandate provision, called the backbone of the reform law, will not survive legal challenge but it is uncertain what will happen with other reform provisions in the absence of this key provision.

12/16/2010 Ohio 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, Ohio said that it would: 1) Coordinate public and stakeholder through a specially constituted task force, 2) Inform Ohioans of Exchange planning activities through public notices and Ohio’s health reform website, and 3) Conduct market analysis, modeling Ohio’s public programs and private insurance markets to provide projections and analysis necessary for planning and implementing an Exchange.

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.

6/28/2010 High Risk Health Insurance Up to 5,000 Ohio residents with significant ongoing medical expenses ineligible for other coverage are now eligible to purchase health insurance under the federal health insurance reform program. Individual open enrollment health insurance is offered through Medical Mutual of Ohio regardless of previous medical conditions except that those currently confined to a health care facility due to chronic illness or permanent injury are not eligible. Premium rates are currently $457 for basic coverage and $613 for standard coverage. The premium costs are subsidized by funds from the federal government totaling about $30,000 over the next three years for each expected participant in the plan. Coverage may be limited for pre-existing conditions for the first 12 months if the applicant is currently uninsured or there is a gap in previous recent coverage greater than 63 days. Otherwise, a three month waiting period applies to pre-existing medical conditions. Quotes are available online but application must be made with a paper application that may be downloaded in PDF format for printing at home.

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

3/23/2010 A citizen-based constitutional amendment has been introduced to protect the rights of Ohioans to opt out of the federal health care reform.