When you shop around for a health insurance plan, health insurance quotes can help narrow down your options and identify the best plan that fits your medical requirements and budget. The main types of quotes you will come across are:
* Indemnity of Fee-For-Service Plans – These offer the most convenience and flexibility because they allow you to visit any doctor of your choosing. These plans are in high demand but are getting more expensive.
* Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) – Most quotes are this type nowadays. HMOs are a group of health care providers who bundle their services together at a fixed price. HMOs are suitable for people on a tighter budget who are not looking for any specialized services outside of the network.
* Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs) – PPOs offer the flexibility of using both your managed group services such as with HMOs, and also services outside of their network without a referral such as with the Fee-For-Service plans. PPOs are a bit more expensive than HMOs but cheaper than Fee-For-Service plans.
Once you have decided which plan to go with, the cheapest way to obtain quotes are through group coverage, such as from the workplace or professional organizations etc. If you cannot find any group coverage, individual coverage is another option, though far more expensive.
When you have purchased your plan, make sure to familiarize yourself with the health insurance coverage, which is a contract that specifies what medical benefits your health insurance provider will and will not cover. The extent of the covered medical services depends on the fee that you pay your health insurance company, and may include services such as prescriptions, checkups, and tests etc. All services not covered in your contract are also listed, and payment has to come out of your own pocket should you require them.
To keep yourself abreast as to what your provider covers or not, make sure you carefully read your health insurance coverage. In this way you wont be taken by surprise with a nasty health bill, and if your doctor recommends a treatment that is not covered by your health insurance, then you can request for alternative treatments that is covered.
Though a majority of treatments or procedures advised by doctors are covered in your health insurance plan, you may occasionally run across a treatment that is not covered. In this case, you can try and challenge the health insurance coverage to include this treatment in the coverage. Enlist the support of your doctor too.
