With health care insurance premiums rising, employers are faced with the dilemma of choosing which plans they want to offer their employees
. Many are putting more of the burden on the employees than they have in the past. The types of plans most companies seem to be offering are HMO's and PPO's. Very few offer true indemnity plans which have traditionally offered the most benefit rich plans, however, these plans are extremely expensive and few employees can afford them.
Understanding these plans and how to best use them to your advantage can be a little tricky very simply because many people are used to indemnity plans and don't even realize that they are in an HMO or PPO plan. These plans reward using certain service providers and if you have just continued to use the same provider since before you had this type of insurance then they may or may not be in your current health insurance plan.
Before you visit a doctor you want to make sure he is a service provider within the medical plan you chose. You can either access the web to find out if they are on your plan or call the customer service representative of the insurance company. It is worth the extra time upfront to find this information out rather than having rude surprise after the fact.
The best way to find out if you are in one of these plans is to look at your benefit card and see if you see either set of initials listed on the card itself. If you do then you know that your plan will offer you a list of providers to choose from. In a PPO the choice of which providers to see is up to you and you can select any of the ones off their list and receive a higher benefit then an out of network provider. If you are in an HMO then you will need to select one primary care provider from the list and always go to see that person first and then they will refer you if need be.
Remember, the goal to any plan is to maximize the benefits you can receive. This will allow you to save money and still get the care you need. Sometimes, the best way to do that is to switch doctors. Going forward, HMO's and PPO's will be the only plans offered and individuals need to understand how these plans work to their advantage.