Types of Health Insurance

These days health insurance has become a necessity. With the medical expenses rising higher, and paying them digs deep cracks in our pockets. Hence it would be an exact decision to go for a health insurance program which would definitely release the burden and save your money to considerable extent. Hence it is very important that you possess the right information about the various health insurance programs

All the health care insurance fall into one of the two categories:

i) Indemnity plans
ii) Managed care plans

Indemnity plan

In indemnity plan you get the benefit of choosing the doctor of your choice and the insurance company pays a certain percentage of the amount after you visit the doctor. Indemnity plans are also called as fee for service plan.

The features of indemnity plans can be illustrated as below:

The plan has the provision that once the service is rendered the amount will be paid after that criterion.
The plan covers all the preventive, regular and serious services.
The employees can visit the doctors of their preferred choice.
There is no requirement of the referrals.

Managed care plans

A common trait among managed care plans is the incentive (usually, a lower premium) for the insured to stay within a specified network of health care providers

Managed care plans fall into 3 basic types plans:

1) HMO
2) PPO
3) POS

Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs)

The features of Health maintenance organizations are the process of payment of the amount follows the prepaid basis. The members pay a fixed amount that is they have to pay a fixed amount every month irrespective of whether the medical treatment would be used or not.  Most medical services provide a wide variety of facilities like office visits to hospitalization.

Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs)

A PPO is an organization made up of doctors and hospitals that provide services to only specific group. Here the payment is after the service is been provided.

Point Of Service (POS) plans

This is a plan where there is no payment of deductibles and there is a small payment of co-payment on the usage of the health care service.  In this plan you need to choose a physician who would be in charge of giving referrals within the plan network.

Short term health insurance

These plans offer coverage ranging from 30 – 180 days. These plans can be extended at the maximum to 1 year.  There will be a requirement to pay the initial deductibles and co-payments. The services provided would be in patient, out-patient, hospital rooms inclusive of the intensive care units, lab examinations and X rays as well.

All the plans have their pros and cons, and these pros and cons vary from individual to individual. Hence it is important that you choose the right kind of insurance plan according to your preference.