Health Insurance Options For You

By Marcus Sharp

Living without health insurance will catch up to you someday. If you do not have health insurance and a member family becomes very ill, needing hospitalization or several prescription medications, how long will it take to exhaust your savings with all of those medical expenses?

To avoid this situation, you should purchase as much health insurance as is affordable to your family. Unfortunately, that amount may be less than you actually need. Medical expenses are rising almost daily. Employees are being asked to pitch in or pay more for their portion of the company health insurance. Insurance companies are pushing you to use their preferred providers and paying less for providers that are out of network.

Since there are several different plans, you will want to choose the one that best fits in your situation. Take time to research each of the different plans.

With the fee for service insurance plan, you get to choose your doctor and the insurance pays all or part of the bill.

With a HMO or Health Maintenance Organization, you pay one monthly fee and are able to visit the doctor's office as needed for a small or no fee. You are restricted to visiting the doctors that are a part of the HMO or you will have to pay the bill yourself.

Preferred provider plans allow you to choose your doctor from doctors that have a contract with the insurance company to get a discount on the amount you pay for health care. You can see doctors that are not a part of the plan, but expect to pay more.

Persons who have been laid off or left a job may qualify for COBRA that allows you to continue with the company insurance plan for a certain number of months as long as you pay the premium. Recent legislation allows the government to reimburse your former employer for your insurance if you were recently laid off for up to nine months.

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