Up Close: Surfing the Web for medical insurance

07:17 PM CST on Sunday, February 15, 2004

By Jason Whitely / 11 News

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Think you're paying too much for health insurance? Or are you among the estimated 1 million Houstonians who can't afford it? Premiums are skyrocketing by double digits and more Texans are becoming uninsured. But there's a little-known tool that can help find coverage you can afford, maybe cheaper than what you've got now.

Used to you could almost tell who has health insurance and who doesn't.

KHOU-TV It's unclear whether buying insurance online can reduce the wait at public hospitals or slow the growing number of uninsured, but at the very least, it's an option to a problem where few seem to exist.

"I would say that in the last two years we have seen an increase of middle class people who have become uninsured for whatever reason," says Ben Taub ER nurse Karen Too-Too.

Many are showing up at Ben Taub and other public hospitals in Houston. And they're showing up more often.

Take a look at the Harris County Hospital District's own records. In 2002, 963,426 Houstonians sought care, two-thirds or 631,745 had no insurance.

Too-Too says, "It's increasingly getting worse and worse."

It is.

Last year, the number of patients went even higher. More than a million people went to Houston public hospitals. Of those 1,021,749, 677,083 were uninsured, 45,000 more than the year before.

Part of the reason is state cuts in Medicaid and Medicare.

"Even today we don't have the staff to cover what we have," says Harris County Hospital District board member Dale Wortham. "That's why we have long lines. We need to hire more employees to help with the traffic."

Experts say another reason for the growing number of uninsured is that health insurance is just too expensive these days. Premiums have risen almost 50 percent in the last three years. But 11 News has discovered that affordable policies are out there. You just have to know where to look.

E-HealthInsurance.com is one of several new companies selling policies on-line. It's similar to shopping for airline tickets and anyone can do it. "There's no catch," says Robert Hurley.

Well-known companies like Blue Cross, Humana, UniCare, Cigna and others offer policies through e-HealthInsurance.com.

They're cheaper on the Internet because there are dozens of companies offering coverage and you're able to choose only the elements you want. "You need to buy only what you need," says Hurley. "Many consumers who are very healthy that don't go to the doctor much really don't need that low $10 co-payment. So they can find a plan that doesn't have that and save money on the monthly premium."

11 News checked e-HealthInsurance.com's record with the Better Business Bureau -- and it showed no customer complaints.

Belinda Simpson doesn't have any either.

For a family of six, the cheapest policy either she or her husband could get at work cost $550 a month. Simpson, a doctor's assistant, shopped at e-HealthInsurance.com and found one for $398 a month. "I was able to select what I wanted," she says. "Which deductible, co-pays and things like that. I checked the hospitals, doctors to make sure they were listed. You can do that on there. I was able to find a policy that worked for our family."

It's unclear whether buying insurance online can reduce the wait at public hospitals or slow the growing number of uninsured. But at the very least, it's an option to a problem where few seem to exist.

Aside from health insurance many of the brokerage sites are also clearing houses for other types of policies like dental, auto, life.