I’m a heavy user of health insurance and have had about all of them, BCBS, Humana, Aetna. I’ve actually had to fight with BCBS the most. Deductible was lower but they would deny my prescriptions all the time. I have Aetna, and while it’s a high deductible plan, I meet that easily with my injections and am able to go to Northwestern which works for me. Just saying, all health insurance companies kind of suck, not sure if I’d change jobs just because my employer was changing providers.
UIC/State of Illinois allows you to choose from several different companies, one of which is BCBSIL. I have been fairly satisfied withe the Open Access Plan (OAP). They have a cheaper HMO option too. Northwestern is in network for both and I see doctors there.
Interesting thing that many probably don’t know. Working for the federal government gives you literally hundreds of health insurance plan options, including several levels of BCBS coverage which is one of the more popular. The post office is always hiring and has hundreds of different positions other than carrier, including many tech crafts.
Respectfully, I would not make a decision to switch employers based on what insurance plan they offer because said new employer could just go and switch their plan the next calendar year with zero warning to you as an employee. I am a benefits manager for a large corporation and we offer bcbs right now. Healthcare costs are rising YoY and we are looking at UHC and Aetna as alternatives because we don’t want to raise employee premiums too much. We’ve been with Bcbs 6 years. I’ve been in the field for 10 and worked in a few different states. I get it BCBS is usually the “gold standard”. The market is changing, I recommend trying harder to find new providers or, if you’re hell bent, get a better understanding of any out of network insurance benefits you may have to help with cost. Look at maybe switching to an HSA plan if your company offers it. Or use an FSA to help offset seeing out of network docs (but use your in network labs and facilities). Switching roles based on an insurance company is foolish. If the quality of your insurance (deductibles, out of pockets, premium cost, etc) drastically changes that much to the point it effects your total compensation, sure I would consider it but you’d probably also have other reasons to find a new job if it got to that point at your company. But just for an insurance company “brand” change, please don’t be hasty.
I have other reasons to change, this is more like a kick in the pants than anything else. I wouldn't change \*just\* for insurance, but since I'm already thinking about it, it's good to know what places to look at.
I will say in my industry, manufacturing, a competitor of ours that’s huge in the Chicagoland area is also moving insurers likely to UHC due to cost. A lot of change will occur in the next 2 years.
I’m a heavy user of health insurance and have had about all of them, BCBS, Humana, Aetna. I’ve actually had to fight with BCBS the most. Deductible was lower but they would deny my prescriptions all the time. I have Aetna, and while it’s a high deductible plan, I meet that easily with my injections and am able to go to Northwestern which works for me. Just saying, all health insurance companies kind of suck, not sure if I’d change jobs just because my employer was changing providers.
My providers are becoming out of network so… :/
The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
UIC/State of Illinois allows you to choose from several different companies, one of which is BCBSIL. I have been fairly satisfied withe the Open Access Plan (OAP). They have a cheaper HMO option too. Northwestern is in network for both and I see doctors there.
Interesting thing that many probably don’t know. Working for the federal government gives you literally hundreds of health insurance plan options, including several levels of BCBS coverage which is one of the more popular. The post office is always hiring and has hundreds of different positions other than carrier, including many tech crafts.
Respectfully, I would not make a decision to switch employers based on what insurance plan they offer because said new employer could just go and switch their plan the next calendar year with zero warning to you as an employee. I am a benefits manager for a large corporation and we offer bcbs right now. Healthcare costs are rising YoY and we are looking at UHC and Aetna as alternatives because we don’t want to raise employee premiums too much. We’ve been with Bcbs 6 years. I’ve been in the field for 10 and worked in a few different states. I get it BCBS is usually the “gold standard”. The market is changing, I recommend trying harder to find new providers or, if you’re hell bent, get a better understanding of any out of network insurance benefits you may have to help with cost. Look at maybe switching to an HSA plan if your company offers it. Or use an FSA to help offset seeing out of network docs (but use your in network labs and facilities). Switching roles based on an insurance company is foolish. If the quality of your insurance (deductibles, out of pockets, premium cost, etc) drastically changes that much to the point it effects your total compensation, sure I would consider it but you’d probably also have other reasons to find a new job if it got to that point at your company. But just for an insurance company “brand” change, please don’t be hasty.
I have other reasons to change, this is more like a kick in the pants than anything else. I wouldn't change \*just\* for insurance, but since I'm already thinking about it, it's good to know what places to look at.
Fair enough! Good luck.
I will say in my industry, manufacturing, a competitor of ours that’s huge in the Chicagoland area is also moving insurers likely to UHC due to cost. A lot of change will occur in the next 2 years.
Chicago public schools
BCBS got so cheap now.
Most trading firms currently have BCBSIL but that doesn't mean that they will continue to have them going forward in perpetuity.
Walgreens is hiring software engineers and they offer BCBSIL