Health insurance companies in Texas

There are currently 10 health insurance companies on the Texas State Stock Exchange, which is the same as the previous year.

Texas Health Insurance Companies

1. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas
2. FirstCare Health Plans
3. Ambetter from Superior HealthPlan
4. CHRISTUS Health Plan
5. Community Health Choice
6. Sendero Health Plans, Local Nonprofit
7. Scott and White Health Plan
8. Oscar Insurance Co.
9. Molina Healthcare
10. Friday Health Plans

Finding the best health insurance coverage for you in Texas

Which health plan is best for you and your family depends on several factors. The main factors to consider are your expected health care costs in a given year, your family's income, and the amount of savings you have in the event of an emergency.

Gold plans are best for high up-front costs

Consumers with the highest expected health care needs, especially those with routine prescription needs, should tailor their options toward greater coverage. This can include gold-level plans, which have a higher premium, but also lower your out-of-pocket costs if you need health care.

Gold plans will get much less sharing, coinsurance, and discounts, meaning each additional provider visit will be cheaper than the lower tier plan.

It's especially important to consider prescription drug subscriptions and coinsurance, as this is often an area of ​​the plan's benefits that has the most routine use.

Silver plans are best for the low or middle income consumer

Silver health plans are a good mid-range for most consumers, balancing out-of-pocket costs with monthly premium payments. Silver plans also have a great advantage for low-income families.

For families with incomes below 250% of the federal poverty level, the Silver Plan is always the best option. These fees will provide lower premiums than Gold plans and the cost sharing will be adjusted to match the more expensive options.

Bronze and Catastrophic plans are best for young and healthy people

At the cheaper end of the premium spectrum are the Bronze and Disaster plans. Although these plans are cheap in premiums, they have high out-of-pocket costs, often with discounts and out-of-pocket caps almost as high as the law allows. In 2020, that's $ 8,150 per person and $ 16,300 per family.

Consumers may find the lower premiums very attractive, but keep in mind that these plans generally won't cover anything until you pay thousands of dollars in expenses first.

This can be a problem if you don't have savings that you can shed if you need moderate medical care. In such cases, you will actually pay the costs yourself. The Bronze and Disaster plans really help in big emergencies where care will cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.