Individual Health Insurance - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
#1. HMO - (Health Maintenance Organization)
Health Maintenance Organizations are specifically designed for preventive care. They want you to see a doctor on a regular basis to make certain you're needs are taken care of before any major problem arises. Some of the benefits of HMO's are that they'll pay for a wide range of medical care including doctor visits, hospital stays, emergency room visits, diagnostic procedures and much more. You'll pay a flat premium to participate. One of the drawbacks of HMO's is that you are restricted to using only the physicians and hospitals that reside within the HMO network. In other words, if you have a doctor that you've been seeing, but they're not a member of your organization, you'll be forced to change.
#2. PPO - Preferred Provider Organization
Preferred Provider Organizations contract a group of doctor's and hospitals to perform medical services at a discounted rate in return for immediate payment in full. This means that as a PPO member you'll get excellent rates for medical care. The only catch is that they must be paid in full at the time of the service. The whole idea here is for these people to get their money right away and not have to deal with a lot of paperwork or have to wait long periods in order to be paid. It's very simple. The doctor says something to the effect of "I'll see you today for 50% off of my normal fee, but you have to pay me in full when I'm finished." That's a great deal, if you can handle paying for the visit.
There are other options that can potentially lower your premium costs on an individual health insurance plan. You can have your deductible raised to a higher level, which means that you'll pay more out of pocket initially during the year to see your doctor, but you would still be protected against larger costs such as hospitalization. There are other coverages that you may be able to exclude from your policy that could lower your premiums too. This is something that you'll want to discuss with an agent. The best thing to do would be to grab a free individual health insurance quote and see how much your premiums would be, after which you will have the option to modify them according to your individual health care needs and budget.
Related Tags: individual health insurance, doctor, ppo, hmo, health maintenance organization, preferred provider
Joe Stewart Is A Former Health Insurance Agent. He's Made Understanding Health Insurance Easy For Others. You Can Learn More About Health Insurance And Get Free Health Insurance Quotes For Individual And Family At His Website TheHealthInsuranceGuys.org or by clicking on Individual Health Insurance Quotes
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