What You Need to Know About Health Plans

It doesn’t matter what you think about the health reform act. Now is the time to begin learning about health plans, especially if you have no health coverage. Soon every person in the United States may have to have some sort of health insurance or they will have to pay a penalty. Here is a brief break down of the differences in health plans. You should also look at large group health insurance underwriting so that you know what your insurance company is offering you.

Yes, you can buy your health plan through your state marketplace. This may be an option for you if you have a medium about the income coming into your home or if you are self-employed. There are four options when purchasing this insurance: bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. As you may have guessed, platinum will give you more coverage options. Yet, it will cost you more. To learn more about state marketplace insurance, go to the web site, Web MD.

Next, you can purchase insurance through your insurance salesman or through your employer. This option will include such national brands such as Aetna, Blue Cross, and Blue Shield, as well as many more. These national brand insurance companies offer four types of insurances:

HMOs
An HMO is also known as a health maintenance organization. In this plan, you can choose your own primary care doctor, as long as the doctor is in the network. You don’t have to pay any deductibles and there is a little paperwork for you to fill out. However, you must see specialists within your network, as well.

PPOs
PPOs are also known as a preferred provider organization. You can choose your primary care doctor within the network. If any doctor you see is out of the network, you will have to pay more to see him or her. You will have to pay a deductible and a copay to visit most doctors. The cost of seeing doctors within a PPO plan is a little higher than with an HMO plan.

POS
A POS is also known as a point of service plan. Under this plan, you will still have to see doctors within a network. If you see a doctor out of the network, you will have to pay the full cost of the visit. You then can submit a claim to the plan for reimbursement. The plan may or may not pay you back for the visit. You will also have a higher copay with this type of plan as well as a normal deductible amount.

HDHPS
An HDHPS plan is known as a high deductible plan and is usually link with an HSAS (health savings account). This is the least expensive type of health insurance plan one can purchase. However, the plan has high out of pocket costs. Once these costs are meant for a year, the plan will begin paying one’s health expenses by one hundred percent, for a year. Then it will start all over the next year and one will have to once again meet the out of pocket limits before the plan begins to start paying.

The deductible for this type of plan can be as much as $3,000 per person or $6,000 per family. The copay will vary depending on the exact plan.

Yes, there are a lot of differences between plans. There can be a lot of confusion when trying to decide which the best plan is for you and your family. For this reason, one should begin researching insurance plans now, if they do not have coverage. If one is still confused after their research, don’t be afraid to seek help with some insurance agents.