Our help costs you nothing
Paid by the carrier, not by you, and never with a fee attached to the advice.
About us
A small agency for people who buy their own coverage.
We work with households across Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa — mostly self-employed, farming, between jobs, or bridging the years before Medicare. Our whole job is making the Marketplace legible to people who were told it would not help them.
Why we do it this way
The people we sit down with have usually been told two things: that the Marketplace is complicated, and that they earn too much to qualify. The first is only partly true and the second is frequently wrong. Both keep households uninsured who could afford coverage comfortably.
So we spend most of our time on arithmetic rather than salesmanship — working out what a variable income will actually look like next year, and what that means for the credit. It is unglamorous and it is where the value is.
We also tell people they can do this themselves, free. HealthCare.gov works. The Marketplace Call Center is open around the clock. Navigators help in person and are not paid by insurance companies. An agency that hides that is telling you something about itself.
How we are paid
By the carrier, and it does not change your premium.
We are paid a commission by the insurance company when we place coverage. You pay nothing for our help, and the premium is identical whether you enrol through us, through HealthCare.gov, or on the telephone with the Marketplace.
Marketplace premiums are filed with regulators. There is no agent mark-up, and no version of the plan that is cheaper if you cut us out. That is worth stating plainly, because it is the question people are too polite to ask.
We do not represent every carrier available in every county. Where a plan we cannot place is the right answer for you, we will say so.
What we commit to
Three things, and we will hold to them.
We check before you enrol
Every doctor and every prescription by name, because mid-year is too late to find out.
We will tell you to go elsewhere
If Medicaid, CHIP or an employer plan is the better answer, you will hear it from us — unpaid.
Where we work
Four states, all on HealthCare.gov.
Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa all use the federally facilitated Marketplace rather than running their own exchange, so the mechanics are the same across our whole territory. What differs — considerably — is which plans are sold in which county, and each state's own Medicaid and CHIP rules.
Kansas
KS
Missouri
MO
Nebraska
NE
Iowa
IA
You can do all of this yourself, for free
Everything we do, you can do without us. HealthCare.gov shows every plan available where you live — including the ones no agency represents — and lets you apply directly. The Marketplace Call Center is open 24 hours, every day, on 1-800-318-2596 (TTY 1-855-889-4325).
There is also free local help from Navigators and certified application counselors, who are trained, unbiased, and not paid by insurance companies. We say all of this out loud because an agency that hides it is telling you something about itself.
Ten minutes will tell you where you stand.
A rough income estimate and a household count is enough for a real answer.