Five days until we are supposed to be able to shop in the new Health Insurance Marketplace. While some states running their own Marketplaces might be having some difficulties in being ready, the Feds who are running the South Carolina Marketplace insist that on October 1st the doors of the online site will be open for business.
I strongly urge individuals and small business owners not to try go through this process without guidance. In every premium of every policy on the Marketplace is a commission to pay to insurance agents and brokers. If you don’t use these insurance professionals to help you in the Marketplace, your premiums still are the same. So if you are already paying for professional help, use it.
But not all insurance agents and brokers are alike. What you want is an agent or broker who is licensed with all four insurance companies in the Marketplace. There are agents and brokers who art tied to a specific insurance company so they might be biased in their recommendations (i.e. they won’t make a commission if they don’t recommend a policy from their own insurance company).
Bottom line…get professional insurance agent/broker assistance and really make the Health Insurance Marketplace work for you.