At InsuranceBudget.com we've made health insurance shopping easy. We are currently offering individual and family affordable medical insurance quotes in California, Colorado and Nevada, as well as small business health insurance in California directly through our website and nationwide from affiliate sites providing cheap health insurance quotes in your state. We are dedicated to making sure that visitors to our site find exactly the type of health insurance that they are seeking for. If we can't help you with your medical insurance needs, we will direct you to insurance directories and websites that can. We feel that our website will provide you with all of the resources you need in order to find affordable medical insurance quotes for you or your family.
If you are among the many Americans not covered by employer based group health insurance and are looking for an affordable private or individual health plan, you have come to the right place. Despite what you may have heard in the media, there are many more options for private affordable indivisual and family health insurance plans than there have ever been.
Many of the best known health insurance companies in the nation such as Blue Cross, Blue Shield and Aetna are striving to add more affordable private health plans options everyday. Experienced and qualified agents are familiar with the latest health care insurance plans, and can help you quickly and easily search the wealth of affordable medical plans available for you and your family. With our knowledge and access to the best low-cost health insurance plans nationwide, we are sure to be able to help you find affordable health insurance that is just right for you or your family.
Our team of experts are also familiar with the many new options and alternative health insurance plans for small businesses or the self employed. If you are living in a state that has recently mandated medical insurance coverage, we can help you find the right health care plan that complies with the mandate and is right for you or your family.
What Are My Options?
If your employer does not offer health insurance benefits, or if your job based medical coverage is very limited, you may want to buy a private health insurance policy, or a family health insurance policy. A family health insurance policy is designed to cover you and dependent family members. There are many affordable health insurance plans available in the private health insurance market from highly rated medical insurance companies. Individual or private health insurance polices can be either PPO's, HMO's or Fee for Service Health plans. As you shop for affordable medical insurance, it is important that you understand the difference so you can find the right coverage for you and your family. Of course we'll be glad to help choose the right health plan.
Fee For Service
A fee for service health insurance plan is the traditional kind of health insurance where an insurance company will pay set fees directly to your healthcare providers for covered medical expenses. Fee for service plans offer the most flexibility and usually the most comprehensive coverage. Therefore fee for service plans are also the most expensive type of health insurance. With a fee for service plan you will have a monthly payment or premium, and a deductible. A deductible is the amount that you must pay out of pocket, before the health insurance kicks in and covers your expenses. Like all types of health insurance you can lower you monthly premium on a fee for service health insurance plan by raising your deductible. In most fee- for- service plans, once the deductible is reached you still share a portion of the medical bill with the insurance company. This is usually 80/20 where the insurance company pays 80% of the bill, but you are responsible for the remaining 20%. Most fee-for service plans have a cap, or maximum you have to pay out of pocket for covered expenses. Once you have exceeded that cap the insurance will pay 100% of covered medical bills.
HMO
HMO stands for Health Maintenance Organization. HMO's have been much maligned over the years but actually they can be a very good Health Insurance option for many. If you do not care too much about your choice of doctors and healthcare practitioners, then an HMO can provide very good basic health insurance coverage for you and your family. HMO's unlike Fee-For-Service plans will often pay for wellness visits, weight loss programs and sometimes even things like health club memberships. This is because it is in the HMO's best interest to keep you healthy. In an HMO's there are usually low or no deductibles - you pay a monthly fee to be a member of the Health Maintenance Organization. As a member you are provided with access to doctors and the other healthcare facilities of the HMO. You may have to pay small copays for doctor visits and other services. The draw back of an HMO is that you can end up paying a lot more to use providers that are not part of the HMO. In an HMO you are required to pick a Primary Care Physician, (PCP) and this Primary will usually have to refer you to specialists.
PPO
PPO stands for Preferred Provider Organization. The PPO is kind of a hybrid between traditional Fee-for-Service health insurance plans and HMO private health insurance plans. A PPO health insurance plan may be more expensive than an HMO with comparable benefits, but is usually still a more affordable health insurance option, than a Fee-for-Service health insurance plan. You can adjust you monthly premium down by increasing your deductible or out of pocket maximum limit. A PPO differs from an HMO in that you usually have a far greater choice of doctors or practitioners that you can see. With PPO health insurance, doctors belong to a "network" rather than practicing together under a single roof or affiliated facilities as in an HMO. Unlike an HMO in a PPO you do have the option of seeing a provider "off network", and still receiving some coverage. with PPO's you don't have to select a Primary Care Physician, and you can see a specialist without a referral.
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