I'm too young to speak from experience but I can tell you what I hear and more about how things are, I think.
I was looking at health insurance from
EHealthInsurance.com and they have a pretty handy tool that filters out plans by what you require. There are a ton of considerations that you have to think of when applying for insurance, not to mention figure out what you actually need and should have as opposed to what sounds good.
Preventative care coverage is great and is often overlooked. Regular examinations can start to add up without insurance, so a plan that covers preventative care can help soften the blow to your wallet by a bit. Comprehensive coverage is exactly what it means... just review the things that you and whoever will be on your plan will need specifically and add things as the situation mandates as well as future scenarios, especially if you plan on having kids or are looking into possible future medical dilemmas. There is also disability coverage, which can be extremely important as it will help cover the loss of wages due to a disability that occurs during the plan duration that prevents you from being able to work. (Think of it as worker's compensation.)
Look at brand names and also take a close look at peer reviews. (Then again, that's why you're here, right?) Pay attention to the single-issue opinions and weed them out, unless there's a lot of common complaints towards a particular issue. People have bad stories about insurance, and every insurance company will have its fair share of bad cases and possible dirt. It's going to be hard to settle with a company and wonder if it's possibly evil or not...
Deductibles are a large thing to look at too. What will you be comfortable with paying up front before the plan starts to kick in to cover the rest of your costs? Think of it like automobile insurance. Can you really afford to pay the $5000 deductible right off the back if you break some bones? Plans with large deductibles are cheap by the month for a reason. If you can afford it, try for at least $1000, or if you can, $500 deductibles.
Look at co-pays too. They may seem like small deals now, but when those small figures add up, you can learn the hard way that a smaller co-pay on your part can be beneficial.
Also, you may have heard of Health Savings Accounts (HSA). Look towards your employer to see what they offer for health insurance, and really, if you can score health insurance through them, it may be cheaper or better. Most employers with HSAs will help contribute or match your contributions to the HSA, so consider that as an option. (An HSA is basically a savings account that's specifically for medical expenses and has certain tax benefits and such applied to it, as well as restrictions as to how the funds are used.) Some health insurance companies have additional incentives and "rewards" programs for their HSAs, so keep an eye out for those too.
Anyone that's more knowledgeable about this field can feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on any of this, as usual.
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