Insure Your Health And Stop Worrying About Medical Expenses

A health insurance plan is a contract between you and an insurer that provides coverage for medicine, visits to physician, hospital costs and other medical expenses. Generally there are two types of health insurance plans: managed care plan and indemnity plan.

What is a managed care plan?

Managed care plans are cost effective insurance plans. The insurance company gets into a contract with a network of hospitals and doctors, to provide health care services at a low cost. There are three major types of managed care plan:

• Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO): HMOs provide members with comprehensive prepaid health care plan. There is already a network of hospitals and physicians, and you have to select a primary care physician from that network. If required, the primary care physician will refer you to a specialist in the HMO network.
  
• Preferred Provider Organization (PPO): In this plan, physicians, hospitals and clinics are paid by the insurance company. But you have to pay a co-payment whenever you obtain a medical service. This plan provides you flexibility of seeking health care services from outside the network.
  
• Point-of-service (POS): In a POS plan, you have to choose a primary physician from the network. The plan provides full coverage if the primary physician refers you to a specialist within the same network. You also get certain amount of coverage if the referred physician is outside the healthcare network.

What is an Indemnity Plan?
With an Indemnity plan, you get the freedom to receive your health care services wherever and whenever you require. You can choose a physician or hospital for yourself. You do not have to deal with any pre-set network of physicians and hospitals. The service fee is paid by the insurance company and it can be claimed either by you or the physician/hospital. Indemnity plans are expensive health insurance options. You have to pay a high monthly premium and deductible.
Medical costs are increasing day by day. So, you must determine the type of plan you should buy keeping in mind both your health condition and financial status.