Introducton – The “insurance” is commonly used in the United States to describe any program that helps pay medical expenses, either through private insurance, social security or non-insurance program of social protection funded by the government. Synonyms for this usage include “health coverage,” coverage of health care “and” health benefits “and” health insurance. “In a technical sense, the term used to describe any form of insurance protecting against injury or disease.

In the U.S., the health insurance industry has changed rapidly in recent decades. In the 1970 most people had health insurance had liability insurance. indemnity insurance is often called fee. This is the traditional health insurance was paid the doctor (usually a doctor or hospital) a fee for each service provided to patients covered by the policy. In one of the categories associated with compensation programs is that consumer-driven health (CASS). plans for the health of consumers took the individuals and families to have more control over their care, including when and how access to care, what care they receive and how much they spend on health care services.

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Four steps to help you get your health insurance insurance research, purchase, and understanding of the options for health insurance coverage is not always easy. Here are some simple tips on how to start your journey through all the madness of Health.

First step – Make a list of your current health conditions, medications and other health-related issues today. You also have to take note of their main concerns and questions about choosing adequate health insurance.

Step Two – Get information from multiple health insurance providers. Not all health care plans are the same. It’s worth the time and effort to look more than once the insurance policy. You can save time, money, and improve the quality of care in the future.

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Health Insurance Terms and Definitions

One of the biggest problems for most people is simply the understanding of health insurance benefits available. For the most part, health insurance policies to try to be kind in your writing, but many people simply are not familiar with medical terminology and insurance.

Most health insurance policies also offer something like a cheat sheet that describes the policy coverage and covers the most common medical services. However, make sure you understand the different things that are excluded from the plan. Many health insurance plans offer limited benefits for mental health services such as chiropractic care, and health. Although physical therapy and home health care are often limited to a number of visits per year.

Co-payment or co-payment

A co-payment is a predetermined amount to be paid to a medical provider for a particular type of service. For example, you may have to pay a $ 15 copayment when you visit your doctor. In this case, must pay $ 15 doctor’s office at the time of the visit. Normally, you do not have to pay any additional cost – your insurance company pays the rest. However, in some cases, if your health insurance policy, he said, may be responsible for a co-payment, a percentage of the surplus.

Deductible

The deductible is the amount of medical expenses you must pay before the insurer begins to pay benefits. Most health insurance plans have a deductible per calendar year which means that in January of each new year franchise new requirement. Therefore, if your calendar year deductible is $ 1,500, while medical expenses for this year does not exceed $ 1,500 for the insurance company pays nothing for this year. As of January of the new year begins, you should start paying $ 1,500 for their own medical expenses.

Coinsurance

Coinsurance (or out of pocket expenses) is the amount or percentage of each health care are required to pay. For example, you could have a $ 100 medical expenses. Your health insurance company pay 80% of the load and are responsible for the increase of 20%. The 20% is the amount of your co-insurance.

Coinsurance amounts throughout the year. If you have a large amount of medical expenses in a year, you can meet the requirement of maximum co-payment of your policy. At that time, all covered expenses paid at 100% for the remainder of the calendar year.

Stop-loss or out of pocket spending limit

You sometimes hear it referred to limits outside to pay their “stop loss” or coinsurance amount. Basically, the amount you pay out of pocket per calendar year before the health insurance company pays 100%.

Will have to revise its policies because the policies that require many co-payments not to allow these co-payments to go toward the outside of the amount of pocket. For example, we have reached the most out of pocket for the year, so if you are admitted to the hospital, you pay nothing. However, since they have to pay $ 15 co-pay each time you visit the doctor, who always has to make this co-payment.

Lifetime maximum benefit

This is the maximum amount the insurance company will pay your medical expenses for the duration of his contract. In general, this amount is in millions of dollars. Unless you have a very serious condition, you may not escape from this amount.

Preferred Provider Organization

A Preferred Provider Organization (also known as PPO) is a group of participants in the medical providers agreed to work with the health insurance company at a reduced price. It’s a win-win for both parties. The insurance company should pay less money and suppliers receive automatic referrals.

In most health insurance policies, you can see the level of benefits differ depending on whether you visit a participating provider or non-participants. A PPO plan offers more flexibility for the insured, either because they can visit a participating or nonparticipating provider. They just received a better price if they use a single participant.

The maintenance organization Health

An Organization for Health Maintenance (also known as a HMO) is a health insurance plan that limits just using the specified medical providers. Generally, unless you are outside your network area, no benefits are payable if you go to a nonparticipating physician. In general, you must choose a primary care physician is your primary care physician (PCP). Whenever you have a health problem, see a doctor. If you feel you need, we will refer you to another network provider. However, you can not decide on their own to see a specialist, you have to go through your PCP.

Medically Necessary

You can see this term in all health insurance policies and is a frequent cause of unsuccessful applications. Most insurance companies will not cover the fees that are not considered medically necessary. The fact that you or your doctor thinks something medically necessary, your health insurance company can not. For this reason, always make sure to have the study of costly procedures will be covered.

Routine treatment

Routine treatment is generally defined as prevention services. For example, an annual physical exam is on a regular basis is generally regarded as routine. Many of the vaccines that children and adults are falling into this classification. Some insurance companies offer limited coverage for routine care, some do not provide any benefit at all.

pre-existing condition

A preexisting condition is a condition that you earned or received treatment before the effective date of your insurance policy today. Health insurance companies vary in how they treat pre-existing conditions. Some companies will not cover everything if you have certain underlying chronic conditions. Others give it coverage, but will not provide benefits for a period of time – usually 12 to 24 months. However, other medical insurance policy specifically exclude pre-existing condition and will not provide any benefit for this condition.

Make sure you are very clear about the limits of pre-existing conditions of your policy so you are not unpleasantly surprised when you see your doctor.

EOB

It is the way the insurance company sends you after finishing the processing of your application. It describes in detail the bill they received and how it changes. It is commonly known as EPO.

Coordination of Benefits

If you are eligible for benefits under more than one health insurance plan, the different health insurance companies coordinate benefits. This ensures that no more than 100% of the total charge is paid. There are many variations on how this can happen. In general, the main company made its first payment. After presenting a copy of the report of the company with a secondary copy of the Explanation of Benefits (EOB) from the main company. The company usually takes the remainder of the bill.

Participating Provider

A participating provider is a medical provider has signed a contract with a health insurance company or health insurance network to load the pre-determined rates and patients who are on the network.

Non-participating provider

A non-participating provider is a health care provider does not have a contract with a health insurance company or a particular network. If you are using a non-participating provider, usually pay a larger portion of the account. In some cases, you may be liable for the entire account.

Limited Benefit Plans

They are not considered comprehensive health insurance plans. Instead, offer very specific, limited benefits for different types of services. For example, they may offer a fixed rate for each day in the hospital or pay a limited amount of each surgery you have.

Usually marketed to people who can not afford or can not get wider coverage due to preexisting health conditions. Or, they can be oriented towards people who have high-deductible plans. The beauty of these plans is that they usually pay in addition to any other insurance you may have. Therefore, there is no coordination of benefits is required.

If this is your only coverage, know that you tend to pay much of any bill that these plans are generally limited pay large amounts per day. For example, can cost $ 1000 per day to stay in the hospital. If your plan pays a maximum of $ 200 per day for each day to go to the hospital, you will be personally responsible for paying 800 per day.

Medicare supplement plans

People with Medicare often choose to purchase a Medicare supplement plan that Medicare does not generally cover medical expenses in full. Medicare continues to change and add new options, but overall, a supplemental plan pays the balance of medical expenses after Medicare pays its share. For example, most Medicare supplements pay the insurance deductible.

Some policies also cover some costs Medicare does not cover. There are many variations of different policies. If you are unsure of what you buy, you can contact an agent that helps the elderly.

What is an Advance Health Care Directive (or Living Will)?

Helping someone to prepare for the final decisions of life care can be a great comfort to the person and other family members. The document that helps you do that is an advance directive for health care or living will – what he called and what it includes depends on where the person – sometimes associated with a proxy for care health. For more information on how to implement an advance directive for health care or living wills, see Advance Health Care Directives and Living Wills: A Step by step guide.

This document is important because, given a medical situation where a person can not speak for himself – nothing catastrophic, short, temporary state of terminal illness long – allowing health care providers and other decision makers know their preferences, and may authorize a person to speak on behalf of the person. Without an advance directive for health care or living will, patients can not communicate can be left to the discretion of family disputes or confused by doctors who could use artificial means to prolong life, or refused, regardless of what the patient wants.

An advance directive for health care is the main legal instrument to protect the health of a person you want as long as they can not speak for itself. The health care directive applies at all times the person is unable to communicate or not, the situation is life threatening, and as long as necessary. Examples are temporary condition of a patient after a stroke or disabling chronic disease in the long run, the last stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

An advance directive for health care can be given to the wishes of the person as to the specific attention and does not, and may appoint a person – usually a close family member – to oversee the care or make decisions for him when is unable to do so. An advance directive for health care does not cancel the direct control of the person in their care until he can still speak for itself.

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