Riverview has filled up with young households in new subdivisions. Many of them are buying health insurance for the first time in their lives. I make that first purchase simple.
Hi, I'm Sam Jaber. I'm a licensed health insurance broker working out of Tampa, a short drive up US-301 from Riverview. Riverview is an unincorporated community in Hillsborough County, just south of Brandon, so it shares the county's list of marketplace plans.
A lot of the Riverview people who call me have never bought insurance before. They're turning 26, or they just went from a W-2 job to 1099 work, or they bought a starter home and realized nobody gave them benefits with it. We can do the whole thing by phone; I do it that way for clients across 36 states. My Tampa page covers the rest of the area.
If someone told you PPOs don't exist here anymore, they were half right. The marketplace PPO in Hillsborough costs more than twice what other plans cost, and one company sells it. A private nationwide PPO is a different product, available through me, and for a healthy young person paying full price it's often worth pricing.
Before plans, I ask about dates. If you're on a parent's plan, it usually ends when you turn 26, and losing that coverage can qualify you for a special enrollment period. If you're leaving a job, your coverage ends on a date your employer sets. Either way, there's a window, and the window is the thing first-time buyers miss.
The plan list itself is the county's: 173 medical plans from 7 insurance companies, and 14 of them are PPOs. At age 40, the lowest-priced silver PPO costs 138% more than the lowest-priced silver plan of any other type.
Picture someone who just turned 25 and a half, renting a townhome near Big Bend Road with two roommates. She does freelance photography and works shifts at a restaurant. Her mom's plan has covered her for years, and in six months it won't.
First we pin down the date the coverage ends and the enrollment window that opens with it. Then income. If her photography and tips land inside the tax credit range, a marketplace plan is usually her most affordable choice. If she earns more than that and she's healthy, I'd price a private PPO next to it. That plan is underwritten, so her health answers matter.
Next step: Call me a couple of months before your 26th birthday, and we'll have your own plan ready the day the old one ends.
Leaving a W-2 job for contract work means the employer plan stops on a date your employer sets. Losing that coverage also opens a window to buy on the marketplace. A private PPO doesn't depend on that window, but it needs time to review your application before it can start.
If you have a doctor you like at St. Joseph's Hospital-South on Simmons Loop, founded in 2015, we check that the plan you pick includes it.
Next step: Call me as soon as you know your last day, so new coverage starts the day the old plan stops.
Young doesn't always mean healthy. If you're on a daily medication, see a therapist weekly, or have something like Type 1 diabetes, the marketplace is the right place to start. Plans there must accept you and can't raise your price because of your history. A private plan doesn't have to do either.
Next step: Send me your medications and your providers, and I'll show you which plans keep them affordable.
Straight answers, no sales pitch.
It depends on the plan, so check the date with your parent's insurer or employer. Losing that coverage can open a special enrollment period to buy your own.
No. Riverview is in Hillsborough County and shares the county's 173 marketplace plans.
You can. A private PPO with a national network is open to healthy applicants who pay full price, and the marketplace has a PPO too, at a much higher price than its other plans.
No. The insurer pays my commission, and the price you see is the price you'd pay without me.
Tell me your birthday, when your current coverage ends, what you expect to earn this year, and whether you have doctors you want to keep. I'll explain your choices in plain English.
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