Health Insurancee

From top carriers

Types of Health Insurance Plans

Health insurance plans fall into four main categories:

  • Health Maintenance Organizations
  • Preferred Provider Plans
  • Major Medical Plans
  • High Deductible Health Plans

About 10 years ago, these different types of plans were very distinct and could easily be identified.

Today, the lines have blurred, making it hard to distinguish one from the other in many cases.

In a traditional sense, a Health Maintenance Organization is a health plan where your care is managed by your primary care physician along with the Health Maintenance family with health insuranceOrganization itself. These plans typically have low co-payments for services at a doctor’s office and even for hospitalizations and surgeries. A big drawback to these plans is that when you get sick, you end up being limited to which doctors you can see and you will need referrals from your primary care physician and approval from the managed care organization for anything from diagnostic tests to surgeries and hospitalization.

Preferred Provider Plans were originally a spin-off of HMO’s. Insurance companies saw they had good discounts with in-network providers and consumers were upset with the oversight from the managed care companies. So, they created plans that had the features people liked – low copayments and little insurance company oversight. Also, there are benefits when you go out of network, but they are reduced by 20% – 30%.

The health plan that has been around the longest is the Major Medical Insurance plan option. Originally these plans had a deductible, coinsurance, a maximum out of pocket amount and some had separate benefits for hospitalization and surgery – often provided by Blue Cross with the major medical being offered by a traditional insurance carrier. Today, you don’t see people carrying one plan for hospitalization and another for other services and plans that are sold as major medical usually incorporate a network and enhanced benefits for seeing a network provider. So, they look more like a PPO plan without copayments.

Finally, we have the High Deductible Health Plans typically associated with Health Savings Accounts. These plans are just Major Medical Plans with deductibles, coinsurance and out of pocket limits that conform with the limits set forth by the Federal Government (Here is a nice HSA overview the US Office of Personnel Management Prepared for government workers).

To learn more about Health insurance quotes, affordable health insurance, affordable health insurance quotes, health insurance plans, visit Benepath.com.

Posted on Monday, May 17th, 2010. Filed under Health Insurance.

Is a Health Savings Account for You?

There’s always been a debate about Health Savings Accounts and they may not be the right thing for some people. They got a lot of press attention, but still, many people don’t truly understand what they will do for them. Ideally, if you don’t understand what the benefits of an HSA are, call your local health insurance broker for information.

An HSA is a savings account, and if you don’t think you’d be opening one, then this may not be the way to save for your medical expenses. You also have to have the “save money” mindset to make this work. So, if you spend what you get when you get it, a health savings account might not suit your lifestyle. But, it does have some terrific advantages that you could at least check out.

To learn more, visit https://www.benepath.com.

Posted on Sunday, February 14th, 2010. Filed under Health Insurance, Life Insurance.

Health Savings Accounts and the Over 55 Crowd.

Yes, you can get an HSA if you are over 55. The only thing you will need to know right up front is that if you do choose to go this route, you will need to catch up payments in order to be in a beneficial position. If you’re older, you might be able to swing that, as many older Americans do tend to have assets by that age. Although with the recession, this isn’t as frequent as it used to be.

You don’t have to go with an HSA if you don’t feel it’s the right thing for you. You could go with Major Medical instead or even with a Co-pay plan. Your life is unique and you will want what works the best for you, so make it a point to talk to an expert health insurance broker who can assess which plan(s) will work for you.

Posted on Tuesday, February 9th, 2010. Filed under Health Insurance, Life Insurance.
  • Find Health Insurance. Fast. Easy. Start Now: