How to use Coverage Advisor™

Shopping for health insurance plans is a big task. You have a lot of options—all with their own pros and cons. When you sit down to compare them, it can be hard to keep everything straight.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan wants to make shopping for health insurance as easy as possible, so we have an online tool that can help.

Coverage Advisor, powered by WebMD, makes it easy to find a plan that’s right for you and your budget. You’ll be able to compare the cost of different plans based on how much you expect to use certain health care services so you get personalized results.

How much information you enter is up to you. The more detailed information you enter, the more accurate estimates you’ll receive.

Coverage Advisor gives you a complete breakdown of each plan’s details side by side so you can clearly see the differences. You control the amount of information displayed based on what’s important to you. If all you care about is low net cost, you don’t have to spend extra time looking through the breakdown of copays for specific health care services.

Just go to Coverage Advisor and follow these steps:

1. Create a profile by entering your personal information. Click Submit.

2. Click View 2013 Plans to begin.

3. Personalize your profile by filling in your salary and tax information. When you’re done, click Continue to Plans.

4. Select the type of plan you’re considering from the drop down menu.

5. Click Continue to bring up the plan details.

6. Enter the premium, copay, coinsurance, deductible and out-of-pocket maximum information for your plan. Click Add at the bottom on the form when you are done.

7. Use the Add a Plan tab at the top to add information for another plan.

8. Repeat steps 4 through 7 until you’ve added all the plans you’re considering. When you’re ready, click Continue to Family Members.

9. Estimate how much you’ll use your health care plan in the coming year.

a. Click Update Conditions and check the boxes for any medical conditions you have.

b. Click Update Visits and enter how many times you think you’ll visit  health care professionals.

c. Click Update Medications to enter your medications. If you take regular medications, click the green plus sign to add them by name. If not, guess how many you’ll need.

10. Click the green plus sign to add another member of your family.

11. Fill out the general information, conditions, visits and medications just like you did for yourself. You’ll want to add a profile for everyone who’ll be covered under your plan.

12. Estimate any medical, dental or vision costs you expect that won’t be covered by your insurance—for example, the cost of elective surgery.

13. If you have a health savings account, enter the amount of money you expect to have in it  at the beginning of the year.

14. Click the View Plans for You button to view your plans side-by-side.

15. Use the Cost Summary at the bottom to compare all details of the plans you’re considering.

16. Use the sliders on the right to rank how important having a low net cost, a low premium, low deductible, and a low out-of-pocket maximum is to you.

17. Coverage Advisor will then rank the plans in order of how well they fit your lifestyle.