Health: A Key To Finding The Right Health Insurance

By Stephanie Stahl

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Finding the best health insurance can be complicated, confusing and costly for the many people who are shopping for insurance during this open enrollment period that ends Jan. 31, 2017.

But just in time for those people, there's a new way to save money on health insurance in Pennsylvania.

It's a free online tool that is designed to help you find the best health insurance plan for you and your family.

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Consumers' Checkbook and the Pennsylvania Insurance Department provide that online comparison tool to make shopping for health insurance in Pennsylvania quick and easy.

"They can find out what plans will cost them," says Robert Krughoff, the president of Consumers' Checkbook.

"This all boils it down to a single dollar amount that you can compare from plan to plan," he explains.

Krughoff says the site compares plans that are on the public exchange and those that aren't on the public exchange.

You enter your zip code, age and health status to get started and answer personalized features too.

The comparison tool takes into account the doctors you use and the drugs you take and will provide a list of providers and estimated costs.

And it's not just about finding the lowest premiums or deductibles, there's also a feature that can analyze costs for people with a serious illness.

Checkbook has built in a variety of tools to find hidden costs to calculate unexpected prices.

It can take as little as five minutes on the site for consumers to find big savings.

Krughoff says many people will save $2,000 or more by using this tool.

Checkbook provides the research and analysis but does not do the actual purchasing of health insurance.