In return, your health insurer agrees to pay a portion of the covered medical expenses. Health insurance is a contract that requires the insurer to pay some or all of a person's health care costs in exchange for a premium. More specifically, health insurance generally pays for the medical, surgical, prescription drug and sometimes dental expenses incurred by the insured. Health insurance can reimburse the insured for expenses incurred due to illness or injury, or pay the care provider directly.
To receive health insurance, employees choose to participate in their employer-sponsored plan. In exchange, they receive an insurance card that gives them access to the doctors, hospitals and other health care providers that are part of the insurance plan. Explanation of health insurance: The YouToons Have It Covered is a light-hearted treatment of a difficult and important topic, which breaks down insurance concepts, such as premiums, deductibles and provider networks. It explains how people pay for coverage and get medical care and prescription drugs when they enroll in various types of health insurance, including HMOs and PPOs.
Health insurance helps reduce the amount you would otherwise have to pay for high-cost medical care. When a person has an insurance card, it makes it easier to access health care by showing healthcare providers that most of the treatment costs covered by the person will be paid. The following are three important questions to ask yourself when making a decision about the health insurance that best meets your needs. Managed care insurance plans require policyholders to receive care from a network of designated health care providers to obtain the highest level of coverage.
It's important to understand your costs and the key terms of health insurance so you know what services your plan will pay for and how much each visit or medication will cost. Some types of health insurance include government plans, such as Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans, which may also be referred to as Marketplace or Exchange plans, Medicare plans, and Medi plans. These factors include whether you've met your deductible, what your coinsurance is, if you get care from providers and facilities from the network, whether your care is preventive or not, and more. To meet the need for reliable information on national health issues, the Kaiser Family Foundation is a non-profit organization based in San Francisco, California.
HIPAA also prohibits state-licensed private insurers from considering a member's health status when determining their eligibility for group coverage. The eligible insured may qualify to receive a premium tax credit to help offset the cost of health insurance purchased through the federal marketplace. Two public health insurance plans, Medicare and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), are aimed at older people and children (respectively) who need help with health insurance. That agreement includes a health plan that helps you pay for certain medical care and services, so you don't have to pay all the costs on your own.
If you don't get a plan through your employer, you can buy one on your own through a state or federal health insurance exchange. Having health insurance can prevent you from incurring medical bills that you can't pay out of pocket. But if you don't have health insurance, you won't be penalized for it under the terms of the Affordable Care Act.