Am I Overpaying for Health Insurance? How to Tell, and a Free Check That Does the Math

BrightHaven Insurance Group · October 29, 2026

What you pay is not always what your plan costs

Before you can say whether a price is too high, you need to know which price you are looking at. There are three very different kinds of number hiding behind "what I pay for health insurance":

• A plan through your job. What comes out of your paycheck is your share. Your employer pays a share you never see on your payslip, so the real premium is your deduction plus theirs.
• A plan from healthcare.gov or your state marketplace. If you get a tax credit, the government pays part of the premium straight to your insurance company every month. Your share plus the credit is the full price.
• A plan you bought yourself. Here, what you pay usually is the whole premium, so it can be set side by side against other plans like for like.

Comparing a payroll deduction or a subsidised premium against a full price tells you something false. That is why our check asks where your plan comes from before it asks anything else.

The premium is only part of the year

Even the right monthly number is only one piece. To judge a plan, add up a year on it:

• Premium times twelve. What you pay whether you use the plan or not.
• The deductible, copays and coinsurance. What you pay when you actually use care.
• The out-of-pocket maximum. The most you pay for covered care in a plan year, the number that decides a hard year.

A low premium with a high deductible can win a quiet year and lose a hard one. If you rarely see a doctor, the premium matters most. If you have a regular specialist, a monthly prescription or a procedure coming, the deductible and copays can matter more than the premium does. For the full method, see how to compare health plans by the real yearly cost.

Four signs it is worth checking

• You bought the plan yourself and have not compared it since. Private plans are available year-round, so you do not have to wait for Open Enrollment to look.
• You are on the marketplace and your tax credit is small. If the government is covering only a thin slice, the full price is close to what you already pay, and a plan priced on your health rather than on your income can come in under it.
• Your family is on your plan at work. Many employers pay a real share toward the employee and much less toward everyone else. Some pay nothing toward a spouse or children.
• Your renewal notice just arrived. A renewal is a natural moment to see where you stand. What to do when your health insurance goes up.

How to use the "Am I overpaying?" check, step by step

The check sits at the top of our Health Plan Finder. It uses published carrier rates from the plans on that page, and it does not ask for your name, email or phone.

• 1. Where does your coverage come from? Through your job or your spouse's job, healthcare.gov or a state marketplace, a plan you bought yourself, Medicare, Medicaid or AHCCCS, no coverage right now, or not sure. This answer decides what the rest of the check compares.
• 2. What you pay now. Your monthly amount. A rough number is fine.
• 3. Your age band and who is covered. Just you, you and your children, you and your spouse, or your family.
• 4. Your state. Every plan on the page is filed state by state, and the cheapest one in your state is usually not the cheapest one overall. The check will not show a price without your state, so it never shows you a plan you cannot actually buy.
• 5. One or two follow-ups, only if they apply. Marketplace members can add their monthly tax credit if they know it. If your plan is through work and covers more than you, it asks whether your employer pays anything toward your spouse or children. Then press Check my price.

What the check shows you, path by path

If you bought it yourself. The check compares what you pay against the lowest major medical rate filed in your state for your age band and household. If you pay more, it shows the monthly difference and what that adds up to over a year. If you are already at or near the lowest rate, it says so. Then it lays out your realistic paths side by side: private major medical, limited medical where it is filed in your state, and the ACA Marketplace. It is clear that these are not the same kind of coverage. Major medical is medically underwritten, and limited medical pays each benefit up to a set limit, so the cheapest number is not automatically the like-for-like choice.

If your plan is through work. The check does not pretend your deduction is the price. It explains that your employer carries a share, and suggests asking HR for two numbers: the total monthly cost of the plan, and the cost of adding family. If your family is on the plan, it points out that you can keep your own coverage at work and insure your spouse or children separately, and where a spouse would start on a plan of their own in your state. It also says plainly that turning down the coverage offered to you at work usually means you cannot get a marketplace tax credit instead.

If your plan is from the marketplace. The check does not set your share against a full retail rate. If you enter your credit, it adds the two together and shows the real price of your plan. When the credit is larger than what you pay, it tells you to keep the plan, because we are not going to beat a premium the government is mostly paying. When the credit is smaller, it says the plan is worth a closer look and shows where private major medical starts in your state. Either way it covers what the credit does not reach: networks, the once-a-year window for changing a marketplace plan, and the deductible.

If you are not sure. The check compares it as though you pay the whole premium yourself, and warns you that if the plan actually runs through a job or healthcare.gov, your real premium is higher. If the number you type is below anything sold without help, it stops and asks where your plan really comes from, because at that price someone else is paying part of it.

If you have no coverage right now. There is nothing to compare, so it shows what is actually available in your state for your household: where major medical and limited medical start, and the marketplace, which it suggests checking first when you are going without cover.

If you have Medicare, Medicaid or AHCCCS. The check says honestly that it cannot help with the premium, and points you to what those programs usually leave uncovered, like dental, vision and hearing.

Picture it

You have paid the same premium on a plan you bought yourself for a few years. It renews, the price creeps up, and you pay it, because shopping feels like a weekend project and you are not sure what you would even compare. Every month you wonder whether you are the person paying too much, and every month you let it go.

Now picture the other version. On a slow evening you open the check, pick "I bought it myself," type in what you pay, your age band, who is covered and your state. Twenty seconds later you have an answer instead of a worry. Maybe you are already near the lowest rate filed in your state, and you can stop wondering. Maybe there is a gap, and you can see what it adds up to over a year before you decide whether a short call is worth it. Either way, you are the one holding the number now.

What the check cannot tell you

• Whether you will be approved. Private major medical is medically underwritten, so the rates shown are subject to underwriting approval and state availability. We check that first, so you never apply for a plan that cannot be issued.
• Whether your doctors are in the network. Carriers and networks change, so we verify your doctors and network fit during your review.
• Whether you qualify for a subsidy. That depends on household income and state. The check links to the marketplace so you can see for yourself.
• Your whole-year cost. It compares premiums. The deductible, copays and out-of-pocket maximum are the next conversation, and an advisor walks through them with you.

The results are estimates, not a quote or a guarantee of coverage. They are a starting point you can trust to be honest, including when the honest answer is "keep what you have." Run the check now.

This is general education, not tax advice and not a guarantee of coverage or savings. Plan designs, pricing, networks and eligibility depend on your state, your location and underwriting.