On Sunday 18 November 2001 09:02 am, you wrote:

> The big difference when my wife researched them, was some plans you can go
> to the doctor you want immediatley without referral.  At Health Partners
> you need to be sent to a specialist.  Which has not been a problem for us
> in 8 years on the plan.

The biggest thing to look at with this is how sick your family gets.  When I 
was younger, my dad's company switched to some off brand insurance (dont 
remember the name) and all was well and good, because I never got sick. I got 
really sick once, and it cost us a fortune, because we had to see something 
like 3 speciallests in the plan before we could be refered to someone outside 
the plan, and "outside the plan" was any physical theropy (which I needed).  


>
> Some plans, you can go to any doctor that accepts your insurance, like
> Blue Cross.  With Health Partners, you only see Health Parnter doctors.
> Again, no problem for us.  All the doctors we've had were very
> good and seemed to give a damn.
>

Being able to go to any doctor is a good thing for the accident prone, and 
the chronicly ill.  If you have a healthy family, and many accidents, then it 
may not make a difference.


> As far as quality of doctors, they are all the same.  My brother is a
> doctor and I asked him about that.  No group has the "best" doctors in
> town.
>

Well, not all doctors are the same, but I agree that no group has the best 
doctors.  Make sure that whatever plan you choose, gives you the choice to 
switch doctors with ease, as needed.  When your 13 year old girl needs to go 
in for a physical alone for the first time, she may not want to see the 60+ 
man she has been seeing thus far- its nice to be able to just switch when 
needed. 



I think the best part about being able to choose your plan, is you can find 
one that fits your needs best.  Most employers dont give much of a choice 
(unless you want to do it all on your own) and you get stuck with whatever 
the bargin of the year was.


Good luck in the search, though.

Jay
-- 
Jay Kline
list at slushpupie.com
http://www.slushpupie.com
--
October 12, the Discovery.

It was wonderful to find America, but it would have been more wonderful to 
miss
it.
		-- Mark Twain, "Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar"