Steven Lindsay, a licensed insurance agent and a lobbyist for the California Associationof Health Underwriters, says that in some circumstances, insurers will give steep discounts to preferred customers.
Jessica Waltman, senior vice president of government affairs for the National Associationof Health Underwriters, said she favored insurance plans offering narrow annual windows in which people could buy policies.
Urban suggests going to the National Associationof Health Underwriters Web site, where people searching for health insurance can punch in a zip code to get a short list of local and licensed brokers.