Indemnify your health for better and bright future

Health insurance will protect you and your dependants against any financial constraints arising on account of a medical emergency. Basically, the client pays a sum of money called the Premium and in turn the Insurance firm would commit to pay a predetermined sum of money to meet the customer's claims. This article makes you aware on the following:

• Gain in depth knowledge on health insurance
• What are the major types of health insurance policies?
• Find more details on POS?

The term Insurance, broadly defined, is that of an agreement in which both parties agree to the sharing of risk. Basically, the client pays a sum of money called the Premium and in turn the Insurance firm would commit to pay a predetermined sum of money to meet the customer's claims. Health insurance will protect you and your dependants against any financial constraints arising on account of a medical emergency.

More than a decade ago, nearly all Americans had an indemnity assurance coverage, wherein they could go to any medical service provider- be it a hospital or a doctor- and the insurance firm and the patient would each pay a portion of the medical bill, as contracted. But nowadays health care has been making rapid strides and has introduced the concept of affordable health insurance. Here, the average American purchases into a kind of organized health care plan - a systematic method of providing both medical services and paying for the same. Every American could buy a cheap health insurance policy tailored to meet his needs.

What was the Impetus Behind This Managed Health Care Plan?

Initially it was launched with the motive for containing costs. Spiraling health care costs easily beat the inflationary increases of the 80's and the 90's. Today however both indemnity insurance and health insurance policies compete with each other with regard to cost and the quality of care and service provided, and it would not be easy to distinguish one from the other.

Today we have a vast variety of affordable health insurance policies. On the one side we have:

• The Traditional Indemnity Plans
• The HMOs or the Health Maintenance Organization.
• PPOs ( Preferred Provider Organizations) plan
• POS (Point of Service) plan.

The latter two are hybrid variations of the traditional indemnity plans and the HMOs. While the HMO is normally credited with providing the customer the cheapest and most affordable health insurance but with minimal benefits, the indemnity plans are considered the most expensive but crediting with providing the customer maximum benefits.

What Does the HMO Offer You?

The concept of prepaid care is the driving force behind the HMO. It is the oldest form of organized health care. For a predetermined fee, the HMO allows its members recourse to a variety of health care benefits- preventive care not withstanding. There is a wide range of HMOs to choose from. For instance,

• A Group Model HMO entails doctors being employees of the health plan, in which case you would be visiting them at centralized clinics or medical centers.
• Then we have the IPAs or the Individual Practice Associations whereby the HMOs would have entered into contractual agreements with groups of physicians or individual doctors who would consult in private offices.

In the event of requiring a specialist's services, you would need to coordinate with the primary care physician referred to you by your HMO. In most HMO plans, this would include the concept of co-payment, with reference to medical services provided- including hospitalization and office visits. Here, the insured client would pay his doctor a predetermined sum of money for that particular visit .After the co-payment has been effected, most costs as a result of that visit would be covered. This is exclusive of lab tests.

Continue to: What Does PPO Mean

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