Health insurance guide
The decisions that shape your health benefit
Health insurance, explained through the situations where it actually matters — 25 short reads on ICHRA, plan design, and navigating coverage.
ICHRA & benefits design
- Marco is paying too much for a plan nobody likes What happens when you stop picking one plan for everyone.
- Elena covers two kids but not her husband. That's allowed. How ICHRA works with dependents, spouses, and mid-year life events.
- Ray's four most expensive employees don't even use the benefit How separating employee classes changes the compliance calculation.
- Carol is 63. Zoe is 25. They both got $400. Two strategies for contributions — and when to use which.
- Nadia's $400 covers 85% in Louisville. It covers 48% in rural Virginia. Why premiums vary by location, and what drives it.
- Leah has 10 employees today. She'll have 50 by December. How your ICHRA budget scales as you hire.
- Alex's boss just cost him $2,160 a year — by trying to help When an ICHRA offer displaces subsidies worth more.
- Jin has been adding $500 to paychecks. Most of it disappears. How ICHRA turns taxed wages into tax-free benefits for small employers.
- Fifteen people in a risk pool. One NICU stay. Everyone's rates went up. Why the individual market can be cheaper than group for small employers.
What happens when…
- Sam signed up for insurance on his phone. It took ten minutes. The employee experience, step by step.
- Priya is worried about losing her PPO Why the broadest network isn't always the best — and when it is.
- The Rivera team has been on group insurance for eight years What a transition looks like for people mid-treatment.
- Sarah got married in January. Got pregnant in March. One let her change plans. Special enrollment periods — which life events qualify, and which don't.
- Rachel's treatment will cost $250,000. Her maximum bill: $9,200. How individual market protections work for serious illness.
- Dr. Patel was in-network in January. She wasn't in June. Providers leave networks mid-year. This happens everywhere.
Navigating insurance
- Bronze. Silver. Gold. It sounds like a ranking. It's not. What metal tiers actually mean — and why two bronze plans can be completely different.
- Three Bronze plans. Same carrier. Not even close. Why plans with the same label can cost $500 or $8,250 for the same ER visit.
- Your plan says it's "covered." That doesn't mean it's free. The most common misconception in health insurance.
- Your checkup was free. Then you mentioned a rash. How one sentence turns a $0 preventive visit into a $180 bill.
- Danielle has United through work. She buys United on her own. Same logo on the card. Different doctors inside.
- Marcus pays $4,200 a year to keep his doctor. He doesn't know it. When loyalty to a provider costs more than switching.
- Kevin's $300 medication — and the deductible trap When drug and medical deductibles are separate tracks.
- Rosa's Humira costs $6,900. A near-identical drug costs $1,038. How formulary tools miss alternatives, and why a broker helps.
- Tasha picked a high-deductible plan. Then she broke her wrist. How supplemental products soften the blow.
- Maya is leaving her job. Should she wait on dental? Waiting periods, and why the clock starts when you enroll.