Guide to Finding Health Insurance Coverage

Without health insurance, you may find yourself on the wrong end of some extremely large medical bills. The healthcare system currently requires large payments to continue operating and without insurance, you could easily go bankrupt due to medical bills. When looking for a health insurance policy, there are a number of factors for you to consider.
  1. Fee for Service vs. Managed Care

    • When you are choosing a health insurance plan, it is important for you to understand the different types of plans that are available. The two major types of insurance plans that you can choose from our the fee-for-service model and the managed care model. With a fee-for-service, you pay each time you need a health service provided. With a managed care plan, you pay part of the costs upfront through your premiums. Then your insurance helps pay for part of the costs when you need medical help.

    Insurance Brokers

    • When you are looking for a medical insurance plan, you may find it useful to hire an insurance broker. An insurance broker is an individual who does not work for a specific insurance company but has relationships with many different companies. When you choose to work with a broker, you can tell him exactly what you are looking for. The broker will then go out and try to match a policy to your exact needs for a nominal fee.

    Choosing Features

    • When looking at the various health insurance plans that are available, you can generally mix and match the coverage options that you want. For example, you might be interested in having lower premiums on your insurance policy. If this is the case, you can raise your annual deductible and your insurance premiums will lower. You should also pay attention to how much your coinsurance percentages. The coinsurance is the amount of money that you would have to pay on your medical costs up to a certain limit.

    Networks

    • With most insurance plans, you will have a network of service providers that you must work with when you need medical help. Before choosing your plan, you need to look at the network that comes with it. If the network does not include many providers in your area, it may not be in your best interests even if the premiums are a little lower. Find a plan that has a number of providers in your local area.

Health Insurance - Related Articles