subject: Do Your Homework When Choosing Health Insurance [print this page] When it comes to choosing the health insurance you plan to buy, you really have plenty of choices, but the main two choices come down to whether you are looking to save money or the choice to do what is best for your family. That requires a lot of research and you can find most of your answers on the Internet, but if you are on a meager income and you and your family are living from paycheck to paycheck, you have limited options and it is important that you know what those options are.
It used to be, as late as the end of the 20th century, that you had few options and most of those options were all about indemnity plans. In other words, the insured selected a plan under which a certain part of their health care and other needs were paid out of pocket while the rest was also based on the amount of the deductible that had to be met before getting their coverage paid in full.
Indemnity plans worked well but were for the most part replaced over the past 10 years with lower cost HMO and PPO plans. While these plans tended to offer little by way of choice they provided those in need with some good medical care, access to the providers that they need and local area hospitals but did so for just a small co-pay. No matter what the service there was no deductible to be met as long as the insured individual stayed within a specific set of doctors and pre-authorizations rules.
The changes in the insurance industry were not well accepted at first, but as time went on, they were well received and basically make up the system as we have it today. It meets the needs of the user at a lower cost than the indemnity plans do and having a flat co-pay instead of having to pay a percentage of the services they need to have rendered actually helps to keep their bills down at the time of service as well.
Once individuals began to realize that not only did these plans come with lower premiums but lower co-pays as well they accepted the fact that losing their ability to choose any health care provider may not be such a big deal.
Just make sure that when you sign on to a new health insurance program that you know what you are getting into and look into every kind of insurance plan available so that you can make the right choices in regards to you and your family.
by: Ethan Kalvin
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