Your Gps-Guide to Choosing a Health Care Insurance Plan
A Insurance Article Contributed by Brandie King
Your Guide to Health Care Insurance Plans
There are several different kinds of health care insurance plans available. Understanding them can be a pretty difficult task. This article will discuss four of the different kinds of health care insurance plans that are available to help you understand them.
Indemnity Health Care Insurance Plan
An indemnity health care insurance plan, which is also known as a fee for service plan, is one where you can go to any medical provider and they will send the bill to your insurance company. Your insurance company will pay part of the bill, but you will have a deductible to pay yourself every year before your insurance company will start paying. After you have paid the deductible each year your insurance company will pay a percentage of the bill and you will pay the rest.
PPO Health Care Insurance Plan
PPO stands for Preferred Provider Organization. A PPO has relationships with medical providers where those medical providers have agreed to take smaller fees for the services they provide to insured people. To receive those lower fees, though, you have to stay in the network of providers that have relationships with the insurance company that is providing your PPO plan.
When you go to medical providers that are in the network you will only have to pay a copayment, which can differ depending on the type of services that you are receiving. When you go to medical providers that are outside of the network then you will have to pay a deductible as well as copayments. You also might have to make up the difference between what your policy pays and what the medical provider charges.
HMO Health Care Insurance Plan
HMO stands for Health Maintenance Organization. There are many different types of HMOs, but this article does not go into all of them, just provides a general overview of HMO plans. You usually receive health benefits for a monthly fee that is the same from month to month. You will have to choose from a list of doctors that your HMO provides you with, otherwise you will be responsible for the entire amount of the bill. Sometimes you will not have to pay anything when you visit a medical provider and sometimes you will have to pay an copayment.
Pos Health Care Insurance Plan
POS stands for Point of Service. This is a type of health care insurance plan that is offered by some HMOs. The doctor that you choose from the list can normally refer you to other doctors on the list. With a POS plan you can also refer yourself to doctors that aren't on the list and still receive some benefits. If your doctor, that is on the list of doctors provided by your POS plan, refers you to a doctor that isn't on the list then your plan should pay for most, if not all, of the bill. When you refer yourself to a doctor not on the list you will have to pay a copayment.
