Health Insurance You Need

Auto and home insurance are important enough, but you don't need them if you don't own a car or a home. You are always going to need health insurance, however. Living life without health insurance is the equivalent of gambling with your life in a game that you will never win. Maybe you can get away with it for a while, but the longer you go on the more likely you are going to lose. The rising costs of medical expenses today make it almost impossible for one to continually keep paying for their medical bills out of pocket. Choosing a medical plan is one of the most complicated and toughest decisions of all the insurance providers. There are three main types of health insurance plans that are available to you:

• Indemnity- Indemnity is a fee for service type health insurance. You can choose whatever medical professional you want to see. You will have to pay for the service out of pocket then submit it to your insurance company to be reimbursed later. This can be a hassle since medical bills can get pricey and be hard to pay out of pocket right away. Indemnity offers the most freedom of any health insurance plan you will ever find.


• HMOs- Health Maintenance Organizations are a type of managed care plan that is very common in health insurance today. You usually have a small list of medical professionals you can choose from and you will see that doctor, if you need a specialist you will be referred to someone inside the HMO. HMOs are usually the cheapest but lack freedom of choice as you are usually relegated to a set group of doctors.


• PPOs- Preferred Provider Organization is a managed care plan that is more flexible then HMOs. With a PPO you can use physicians outside of the participating health care providers and still receive reimbursement. Your reimbursements will most likely be less then they would be with a member of the HMO, this is usually a result of higher deductibles. PPOs sort of operate as a cross between an HMO and Indemnity.

A lot of people buy private insurance policies to cover them or their family. Individual policies rates are higher and their coverage is more limited so it's best if you try and receive health insurance in other ways. This can include receiving health insurance via your employer or even through an association of some sort.

With the passing of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) you can now retain your current health insurance coverage when you move to a new job for up to 18 months. You will be paying the premium but the rates are still much lower compared to the individual insurance policies. This includes if you have become unemployed or widowed or divorced from an employee that was providing you with health insurance.

Fast Health Insurance Facts

• The #1 reason people opt for no health insurance is cost. Losing their job came in as a distant second place.
• With the shift to managed care plans in the early 90s, national health care expenditure cost growth has decreased almost 5%.