Types of Health Insurance:
Individual Health Plan - Health insurance designed for one individual person
Family Health Plan - Family is normally classified as a group of related individuals under the same household. There are a few exceptions to this, one being childeren away from home at school. Normally a student can remain on the policy until they are a certain age, this varies by Health Insurance Carrier.
Group Health Plan - Comprised of multiple Individuals or Families. Group Health is an organizational unit contained in a plan. These groups can be employment, associations, schools, government, etc. Generally to be defined as a group plan, an employer or organization must pay 50% of the premium or the amount of the individual for each participant in the plan.
HMO - Health Maintenance Organization: This type of health plan is geared toward pre-chosen care providers. Also known as in-network. You have a primary care physician who is your point of contact. Unlike the PPO, your primary physician must refer you to a specialist prior to you being able to see one.
POS - Point of Service: This plan is sort of a mix of an HMO and PPO. You can choose to go through your primary physician or access care through a PPO provider. If it is in-network you will have lower co-payment than if you were to chose an out-of-network provider.
PPO - Point of Provider Organization: A type of managed care where the PPO might have predetermined rates with care providers. These providers are also known as in-network. The cost to you for each visit could be lower than if you were to go out of network for health services. You are normally responsible for the difference between the amount your health insurance company pays and what the fee for services is from the health care provider. PPO is generally considered better than HMO because you can choose to refer yourself to another provider or specialist if you feel the need to do so.
MSA - Medical Savings Account: This is a pre-tax account where you can defer your earnings to fund medical expenses. These accounts are set up in coordiation with a HDHP or High Deductible Health Plan. Generally the HDHP type plans are going to be much less expensive than the standard deductibles. You must be Self Employed, work for a qualified small business or a qualified small business owner to be able to utilize this type of plan.
HSA - Health Savings Account: Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) were created by the Medicare bill signed by President Bush on December 8, 2003 and are designed to help individuals save for future qualified medical and retiree health expenses on a tax-free basis. |
