Different health insurance plans pay for most of your healthcare needs. Insurance is a must for everyone because everything is uncertain. You never know when you’ll get injured or develop a chronic disease. Today, health insurance is not even an option. It has become necessary as we are surrounded by anxiety, depression, lack of physical movement, junk food, and a largely sedentary lifestyle.
Healthcare insurance doesn’t come in handy only when you are about to die. The preventive treatment it offers makes you stay fit and ready to handle any disease. Above all, at the back of your mind, you have the peace of knowing that no matter what happens in life health-wise, your health insurance has got your back.
Here are a few health insurance plan types:
- Health Maintenance Organization (HMO)
- Expat Health Insurance
- Preferred Provider Organizations (PPO)
- Point of Service Plans
- High Deductible Health Plan With Or Without a Health Saving Account
Let’s look at these plans in detail.
1. Health Maintenance Organization (HMO)
To avail of this plan, you will have to pay 10% each month and in return, 90% of all your medical expenses will be taken care of. You will not have a right to choose your doctors or nurses with this plan. People go for this plan because it saves you from a great deal of hassle and contains minimum paperwork, unlike other forms of coverage. This plan also enables you to have a referral who later refers you to a specialist that you may require.
A health maintenance organization consists of a network of healthcare providers. If you go to a doctor, not in HMO’s network, you will have to pay out of pocket. However, the good news is that in emergencies, whichever hospital you go to, the HMO plan will cover all the bills.
2. Expat Health Insurance
If you’re an expat living abroad, then this health insurance is ideal for you. Let’s say you’ve just moved to Germany, it’s important for you to do a bit of research to find out what the local laws are and how they apply to your residency at the time. It’s important to have a reliable source to find out the details that go into the cost of expat health insurance and also what it covers. It cancels all the taxes from your medical bills. It provides private health insurance for employees. People prefer Expat Health Insurance mostly because of the extent of its coverage and because of the massive savings to be enjoyed. The stable premiums are for self-employed professionals, civil servants, and employees.
3. Preferred Provider Organizations (PPO)
Unlike HMO, you don’t need someone to refer you to a specialist. You have the freedom to choose your doctors. However, loads of paperwork are involved if you’re seeing a doctor that’s not a part of the Preferred Provider Organization. Almost no paperwork is involved if you’re consulting a doctor within the organization’s network.
You can consult any doctor, but for those not in the network, it will cost you a pretty penny. You pay 10% with this plan and the remaining 90% is covered.
4. Point of Service Plans (POS)
The Point of Service Plan is a mixture of both PPO and HMO. This plan gives you the freedom to choose your doctor. The best thing? You can easily see a doctor not included in the Point of Service Plans network and without much paperwork. But again, you will need a primary doctor to refer you to a specialist. You can see both doctors who are associated with the plan and those who aren’t but will have to pay a little more for the latter. If you consult someone from out of network, you will have to pay out of pocket, and the premium won’t cover it.
5. High Deductible Health Plan With Or Without a Health Saving Account
If you have availed of a high deductible plan, you will pay less for your insurance. With a high deductible plan, you can choose any one of the following plans:
- HMO
- PPO
- EPO
- POS
If you exceed the set limit, this plan pays for all the other medical expenses. The bronze plans are eligible for high deductible plans. The type of doctor you can visit depends on the type of plans you have chosen. This plan also has a lower premium unlike the plans mentioned above. It provides free preventive care.
How to Choose a Health Insurance Plan?
For this, you have to understand your disease and the type of healthcare you need. Next, you can look into the plans to see which one has a premium value that matches your budget. Consider plans with lower deductibles if you have a chronic health condition.
In Conclusion
Health insurance plans involve so much paperwork that many unknown phrases and words go unnoticed. So, make sure that you get yourself familiar with these terms before signing any documents.
