Health Insurance: What Exactly Does Your Health Plan Cover?
Dear Reader,
Have you been considering getting a health insurance plan? If yes, in this article, we’ll be detailing what health insurance plans are and what exactly they cover.
What is Health Insurance?
Health Insurance could be best defined as an insurance that helps cover the cost of medical and surgical expenses for the insured person. They are a fall back plan for when you are involved in an accident or you have a major illness, your insurance plan can save you from a large number of expenses, however, it can also vary, depending on the plan you choose.
In the world of insurance, the insurers describe a clinic, a laboratory, a doctor or a health practitioner as a provider. While the person who is being catered for by an insurance plan is called “the insured”.
A health insurance plan depends solely on the type of health insurance coverage the insured has, in most cases, the insured either pays from their own pockets and is later paid back or the insurance company makes payment directly to the account of the provider.
Why Do You Need Health Insurance?
The best answer would be that having a health insurance plan can help you save up on a lot of expenses you can incur from not having one. It also saves you from always having to pay medical bills out of your own pocket.
Who Needs a Health Insurance Plan?
The simple truth is everyone needs a health insurance plan. It can aid in reducing the costs of both major medical issues or minor ones, including surgical treatment and/or life threatening diseases. In some places in the world, you can be fined for not having the protection of an insurance plan.
How Much Exactly Does a Health Insurance Plan Cost?
The cost of an insurance plan is solely based on how much coverage you want on an insurance plan, the type of plan you sign on to and also the deductibles you may have. It is very important to carefully research before choosing a health insurance plan.
The Types of Health Insurance Plans
There are two major types of health insurance, the private and public (or one that is owned by the government). However, there are also other more specific types, this list will make mention of them with a detailed explanation.
Managed Care Plan
In this type of plan, the insurance company will be privy to a large number of providers, to help provide medical aid at a lower cost to policyholders. It becomes even more flexible the more expensive it gets.
Indemnity Plan
This allows for coverage of equal treatment among all providers, which allows the insured the chance to choose their own preferred provider of place of treatment. Naturally, the insurer is expected to pay at least 80% of the cost on an indemnity plan, while the insured is expected to pay the rest up.
Preferred Provider Organization Plan
This plan is similar to that of an indemnity plan, in the fact that it allows the insured person to visit any health practitioner of their choice. This plan also has a network of providers that have been approved, with costs already negotiated.
Point-of-service Plan
A point of service plan can best be defined as a combination of an health maintenance organization plan and a Preferred provider organization plan, this way the insured personnel can choose between receiving their treatment within the provider network of the insurer, using a line of non-network providers or getting treatment from a primary care physician.
Health Maintenance Organization Plan
Organizations like this provide medical care directly to the person being insured. They will naturally have a well dedicated primary care physician who will be responsible for coordinating all necessary care.
These organizations are known for only funding treatment referred by the family’s doctor and there would be already concluded fees that have been negotiated for each medical service to minimize as much costs as possible. It is usually the cheapest of the health insurance plans.
Insurance plans in general will always save you from racking up expenses, health insurance will not only save you from that but it will also save you from worrying about expenses while maybe dealing with an injury or an illness, so it is advised to do your research well and get on a plan to insure your health.
Choose a health insurance plan today!