A number of online individual health insurance plans are available today that give you the flexibility of choosing the insurance plan you need. As a customer, you should consider your requirements, health status and income level. Individual healthcare plans are available for injured people, terminally ill patients, women requiring natal and post natal care and elderly patients.
Basic health insurance plans are: Fee-for-Service and Managed Care, Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO), Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) and Point of Service (POS). Health insurance providers have different policies that prescribe to one or more of the above plans which are explained in detail below:
- In the Fee-for-Service or Indemnity plans, you can avail the service of healthcare service providers or doctors who send the bill to the health insurance company. The company will pay 80 % of the bill amount while you pay the remaining 20%. This plan gives you flexibility to choose the doctor you want but it is expensive.
- In the Managed Care plans, members can take advantage of lower priced, good quality medical services by adhering to a few requirements. The following types of plans are available:
- Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO) - The individual health insurance provider has a list of approved doctors and healthcare institutions. You can only visit the listed people for any treatment and you may have to pay a small fee per visit charge.
- Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) - In this type of plan, treatment can be taken from a list of approved healthcare professionals or from others outside this network. The share of bill amount is higher if you go off the list, but not prohibited
- Point of Service (POS) - In this type of service, a doctor in the approved list can refer you to another doctor outside the network and your share of the bill will still be low. However if you opt to go to another doctor without a referral, then your share of the bill will be higher. This type of plan might cost slightly more but comes with flexibility
While selecting a plan, you need to consider issues like: premiums that are the monthly payments, coverage, co-payment, co-insurance, deductibles, any pre-existing condition or illness, and verify any restrictions on specific drugs, devices or referrals to specialists.
Other points to be considered are whether your need is for long or short-term coverage, comprehensive or basic coverage. For people who are between jobs and need coverage for up to six months, the short-term coverage is best. For those who need longer duration health benefits, the long-term coverage is better. |
