BEST Health Plans has been providing group medical, dental, long-tem disability, vision and life insurance to employers since 1970. Products are fully insured by BEST LIFE and Health Insurance Company, a carrier that specializes in group insurance and employee benefits.We market and administer medical and dental insurance for large and small groups. We also offer portable and voluntary life, vision and long-term disability plans.Today, as one of the oldest and most experienced administrators of small group business in the country, BEST Health Plans has built its reputation by providing service to our agents and their clients that cannot be duplicated by any competitor or insurance company.

Our staff is here to serve you, bringing a wealth of knowledge and stability, delivering excellent service for your plan.
 

Financial Ratings

Information from AM BEST. www.Ambest.com

Rating: A (Excellent)
Financial Size Category: XV ($2 billion or more)
Outlook: Stable
Action: Affirmed
Effective Date: August 26, 2004
Issuer Credit Ratings View Definitions
Long-Term: a+
Outlook: Stable
Action: Affirmed
Date: December 09, 2004
 

Plan Features

General Notes and commentary:

A good health plan is designed by Marketing people, controlled and priced by regulators and actuaries and worked by people. Best Insurance company has some excellent people that make the plan work for people. They could have used some better marketing people. The plans are generally, Blah. Nothing notable, exceptional or unusual. Their benefit plans are, for lack of a better word, Safe. Nobody is running out and saying "Get me a plan from Best". Although their plans are middle of the road, there are some underwriting situations and specific counties where making BEST the choice is obvious.

The insurance company is financially sound, the plans do what they are supposed to do, the people are nice, the price is OK. The only problem we see is that sometimes it's organizational setup is run like a country store. Not to knock a country store, it's just that there are some occasions where the communication between areas of the company can be really aggravating.

With the PHCS PPO network having some issues in the Hinsdale/Lagrange area losing both hospitals. BEST can be a great alternative with it's Multiplan PPO network.

BEST Health Solutions

BEST's Health Solutions plan is a PPO plan offered to groups of 2-50 employees and offers two plans that have in-and out-of-network benefits with two levels of coverage.

Alpha Premier Plan

The Alpha Premier Plan offers a 100% or 80% coinsurance in-network, and a 70% or 60% coinsurance out-of-network. This plan also includes the AdvancePCS (now owned by Caremark) prescription card.

Alpha Value Plan

The Alpha Value Plan has a choice of two coinsurance levels: 80% or 70% in-network and 60% out of network. This plan includes a prescription discount card instead of the AdvancePCS card.

Health Solutions is available in AZ, GA, IL, IN, MT, NV, OH, OK, TN, TX, UT. See a Plan Highlight Sheet

Let Castle Group find out if BEST is best for you.
 

Underwriting & Renewals

Underwriting

Best could use a little more connection to the concept of having prescreened information and the estimated response match up. We tend to use a fudge factor of about 10% in rates where there are some marginal issues.

Renewals

One of the strengths of Best has been keeping renewals reasonable. Once you are a Best client, you are likely to stay a Best client. While we don't have as broad a client base with Best as we may with other carriers, we do have a good understanding of their philosoply. If you aren't interested or capable of going through the hell of changing carriers every 3-5 years, Best should get an extra look.

Let Castle Group find out if BEST is best for you.

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