Assurant insurance (you may be more familiar with their old name, Time or Fortis) is a major player in the Georgia insurance scene. Assurant insurance plans are uniquely customizable, ultra-flexible, and offer some of the most individually tuned coverage options available in the private insurance market today. If you’re looking for health insurance, then Assurant insurance is an excellent choice.

Please note: Georgia Insurance Options has access to the “Assurant Insurance Elite Product” line – a group of Assurant insurance plans that few brokers in the state of Georgia are able to offer. For that reason, some of what you’ll read here will hold true only at Georgia Insurance Options. The short version of the difference between an Elite Assurant Insurance Broker and a Standard Assurant Insurance Broker is this: the elite lines have more coverage at the same cost.

Now, let’s compare each and every Assurant insurance plan one-by-one to see which ones shine and which don’t.

Assurant Insurance Plan Number One: MaxPlan

The first Assurant insurance plan is called MaxPlan, and it offers the most comprehensive coverage you can get in an Assurant insurance plan. You can elect an office visit copay of $35 (with unlimited visits), generic drugs are covered by a $15 copay, and brand name drugs are covered with a $25 copay plus 20% of the drug cost after a $500 deductible. That extra 20% can mean drug costs can add up quickly with this Assurant insurance plan.

You can select a deductible ranging from $500 to $25,000, a coinsurance level of 100% to 50%, and a maximum out-of-pocket past the deductible of $0 to $7500. The huge range of mix-and-match options means that this Assurant insurance plan is incredibly customizable to your specific needs.

The Verdict: Unfortunately, this Assurant insurance plan is generally overpriced, and the prescription drug benefit is lacking. If you really love this plan, then I recommend getting very similar benefits at a fraction of the cost with Humana’s Portrait Unlimited Plan.

Assurant Insurance Plan Number Two: CoreMed

Our second Assurant insurance plan is far more reasonably priced. Like Assurant insurance plan number one (MaxPlan), you can elect a $35 office visit copay with this plan. This time, however, this Assurant insurance plan will only cover four office visits per person per year – visit five and up are subject to the deductible and coinsurance.

With this Assurant insurance plan you can again select a deductible anywhere from $500 to $25,000 and a post-deductible out-of-pocket maximum of $0 - $7500. The coinsurance level ranges from 100% to 50% just like with our first Assurant insurance plan, MaxPlan.

Unfortunately, prescription drugs are handled in a similar way to the first Assurant insurance plan: $15 copay for generics, $500 deductible then a $25 copay plus 50% coinsurance. That can get astronomical quickly, and honestly should disqualify this Assurant insurance plan from consideration. When you consider the cost of brand-name cancer treatment drugs alone, this Assurant insurance plan simply doesn’t have the coverage anyone needs.

The Verdict: Assurant insurance almost hit a home run with CoreMed, but the weak prescription drug coverage kills it. Again, if you like the idea of having an office visit copay but saving a little money by having a set number of office visit copays available per year, ditch Assurant insurance and the CoreMed plan and check out Humana’s Autograph Share 80.

Assurant Insurance Plan Three: RightStart

At this point, you may be wondering if Assurant insurance has anything worth buying. They do, but it’s not RightStart.

This Assurant insurance plan is unacceptable. Deductibles range from $500 to $3000, and coinsurance levels go from 75% to 60%. Office visits are covered by a $25 copay and are limited to two per person per year. So far, so good.

However, outpatient benefits are capped at $2500 per year (a single ER visit will usually exceed that – with this Assurant insurance plan, you can buy that up to $5000, but it’s still awful). Annual benefits are capped at $50,000 per year, so this plan will not cover claims above that number in any year (Assurant insurance will let you buy that up to $100,000, which is still unacceptable). 

Prescription drugs under the RightStart Assurant insurance plan are handled in exactly the same way as with the CoreMed Assurant insurance plan, but the RightStart Assurant insurance plan won’t pay more than $2,000 per year in benefits. This, again, is an absolutely unacceptable limitation.

The Verdict: Under no circumstances should you ever consider buying this Assurant insurance plan. There’s a reason that it’s jokingly referred to as “WrongStart” by insurance agents.

Assurant Insurance Plan Four: SaveRight

Here’s a general tip: anytime you see a health insurance plan with the word “value,” “save,” or “budget” in the name, be very careful. The SaveRight Assurant insurance plan is significantly better than RightStart, but it still falls short.

Deductible levels with this Assurant insurance plan range from $2300 to $5100, and coinsurance levels run from 100% to 0%. Maximum post-deductible out-of-pocket levels range from $0 to $3000, and no office visit copay option is available with this Assurant insurance plan.

Prescription drugs don’t have a copay – instead, you pay for drugs out-of-pocket until you hit your deductible, at which point they’re covered at 100%. However, be very careful – with SaveRight, your prescription drug benefits are either capped at $2000 or not subject to an annual maximum. It only costs about nine dollars with this Assurant insurance plan to get full prescription coverage, but many agents fail to include that benefit.

The thing that cripples SaveRight is that outpatient services are capped at a maximum of $25,000 per year. A hole in coverage this huge just isn’t acceptable for true major medical insurance. When you consider that this plan also only covers outpatient physical medicine up to $50 per visit for just two visits, a simple broken arm or leg can completely max out the plan benefits.

The Verdict: The inclusion of an outpatient cap opens you up to too much risk. You can get full benefit plans for the same cost as this Assurant insurance plan, so I don’t recommend it.

Assurant Insurance Plan Five: OneDeductible PPO

This is where Assurant insurance truly shines. The OneDeductible PPO is an excellent plan I’d happily recommend to anyone. With this Assurant insurance plan, you select a deductible of $1200 to $5000 ($2400 to $10000 family). You can set this Assurant insurance plan to pay 100% after the deductible is met, or set an 80% or 20% coinsurance level to a maximum post-deductible out-of-pocket limit of $2000.

There is no office visit copay, so doctor’s office visits come out-of-pocket. Prescription drugs do the same – under this Assurant insurance plan, drugs go towards your deductible and are covered at the level you’ve chosen once you meet it. 

All in all, it’s a simple plan – you’ve got a deductible. Once you meet it, you’re covered at 100% (or at 80% or 50% to a maximum out-of-pocket of $2000, if you chose to save a little on your Assurant insurance premiums).

The Verdict: This Assurant insurance plan is extremely reasonably priced, offers totally comprehensive coverage, and is competitive with products from other carriers. It’s also the best product Assurant insurance offers, so if you’ve got your heart set on Assurant insurance, then this is the plan for you.

Assurant Insurance: The Add-Ons and Optional Benefits

Assurant insurance has a ton of optional benefits that you can add. Let’s go through each Assurant insurance optional benefit one-by-one.

Health Savings Accounts

We’ve talked about HSA’s elsewhere, so instead of rehashing that here we’ll just note that SaveRight and OneDeductible PPO are both HSA eligible plans.

RightStart Cancer Benefit

If you, for some unknown reason, simply must go with RightStart Assurant insurance, then you can increase the annual outpatient maximum of $5,000 by $25,000, but only for cancer treatments.

Preventative Care Benefit

If you chose the OneDeductible Assurant insurance plan, you can get $500 of first-dollar coverage for preventative care by adding on this benefit. This means that well-care visits, physicals, mammograms, etc. are covered up to $500 per person per year (total) before you have to pay a dime. You must have this Assurant insurance plan with this add-on for one year before using this benefit, though.

Maternity Benefit

We’ve discussed the Assurant insurance maternity benefit in depth already, so we won’t go through it all again here. One thing to keep in mind is that Assurant insurance has the shortest waiting period of all Georgia insurance carriers for maternity benefits: there’s only a ninety-day waiting period. 

Dental-Vision Discount Plan

Adding on the dental-vision discount plan to any Assurant insurance plan provides discounts on services from dental and eyewear providers. Savings range from 15% – 50% on dental services and 10% to 60% on eyewear. This is a discount plan rather than true insurance, but it’s a nice add-on to an Assurant insurance plan.

Dental Insurance

You can add dental insurance to the health part of any Assurant insurance plan. However, the dental insurance add-on to Assurant insurance plans is less attractive than the full dental coverage discussed in our earlier article on the subject because of the fee-for-service nature of the program. Basically, instead of being guaranteed coverage, you have to compare your procedures to a checklist and determine what the coverage level is with this add-on benefit. 

Accidental Medical Expense Benefit

With Assurant insurance, you can add a first-dollar benefit of $500, $1000, or $2500 that will cover any accidental injuries you might have. No matter what your deductible or how close you are to meeting it, Assurant insurance will pay your selected amount off the top of your bill before you ever pay a penny.

SuiteSolution – SecureSolution Level

SuiteSolutions is a “benefit package” you can add on to any Assurant insurance plan that will provide you with some extra optional benefits to reduce your risk. The first level available to you is the SecureSolution level. You get an Accident Medical Expense Benefit like the one described above, but with two modifications: the benefit level can be $2500, $5000, or $10000 and there’s a $250 deductible per insured, per accident. Secondly, you get an accidental death and dismemberment benefit of up to $10000 for the primary insured and up to $1000 for the spouse and each child (essentially, this is a life insurance policy that pays in the event of accidental death, or pays a reduced benefit in the event of severe dismemberment or deformation). Lastly, adding SecureSolutions to your Assurant insurance will pay 70% of your weekly salary to a maximum of $250 per week for the primary insured if the primary insured is forced out of work due to an accidental injury.

SuiteSolution – SelectSolution Level

With the SelectSolution add-on to any Assurant insurance plan, you get all the SecureSolution benefits plus a critical illness expense benefit. Adding this to any Assurant insurance plan will provide $2500, $5000, or $10000 (your choice) in the event of life-threatening cancer, heart attack, stroke, renal failure, coma, organ transplant, loss of sight, loss of hearing, loss of speech, or paralysis. A critical illness add-on to any Assurant insurance plan can really help you out in a time of sudden need.

OneDecreasingDeductible

With the OneDeductible Assurant insurance plan, your deductible will gradually decrease over time if you don’t have any claims on your policy. You have to elect a higher deductible, and there’s a waiting period before your deductible will begin decreasing but a full outline of just how the OneDecreasingDeductible works would take another five pages and is beyond the scope of this article. Note that you must elect to make this plan HSA eligible for your deductible to gradually decrease.

We’ve gone over a ton of options relating to Assurant insurance in this article, and it’s probably a little overwhelming. Assurant insurance offers more options to its clients than any other insurance company in Georgia, and for that reason it’s exceptionally important that you work with an agent to get your Assurant insurance plan.

Now that you know how the plans work, get a free, instant Assurant insurance quote on our Georgia insurance quote page! There’s no obligation, no cost, and the quotes are instant. And remember, if you ever have any questions about Assurant insurance, or any other insurance, Georgia Insurance Options is here to help!

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