There are millions of people living in the United States that are living without health insurance for themselves and their families. This can be a very dangerous situation to be in. Health care costs are continually rising and even a minor accident or illness that requires medical attention can cost you a lot of money, even to the point of bankruptcy. No one would ever want for their child to go without medical care because they are unable to afford it. You may find yourself in such a situation. Either your employer doesn’t offer health insurance or the insurance offered simply doesn’t meet your needs. So what are your options for individual health insurance? And how do you choose the right individual health insurance to fit your needs?

There are a wide variety of individual health insurance policies available and you can qualify for some simply by being a member of a certain group such as a military veteran, a retiree, or a Native American. You should certainly consider one of these plans if you qualify, but if they don’t apply to you, the following plans are a few of the more common types of individual insurance options you have available to you.

Managed Care Plans – Managed care health insurance plans include HMOs, point of service (POS) plans, and PPOs. These plans use preferred networks of doctors and hospitals that provide medical services at a reduced price. With an HMO you choose a primary care physician (PCP) who is in charge of coordinating your medical care. They give you referrals for specialists if you need one. With managed care plans you often have no deductable if you see physician in the network with a small co-pay for each visit. On the other hand, going to a doctor outside of the network can be very expensive for you, so you are somewhat limited in the care available to you. Managed care insurance plans are especially beneficial though if you are healthy and you would like to use preventative care, such as yearly checkups at a very low rate.

Indemnity Health Insurance Plans – Indemnity plans are often called fee-for-service (FFS) or “traditional” health insurance plans. With indemnity plans, you pay for any medical services you receive then your health insurance provider will pay you back for a pre-determined portion of the bill. For example, if you live in North Carolina and you have a Raleigh health insurance FFS plan, you can go to whatever doctor you want and get the medical care you need. Once you have paid the bill, you fill out an insurance claim form and send it to your insurance provider. The money you paid will either go toward your deductable, or the insurance company will reimburse you for 80% of the bill. Indemnity health insurance plans often focus more on treating problems rather than preventing them, so they are better if you are prone to illness. Also, they may not be a good fit if you don’t have money in savings that you can afford to pay the doctor before getting paid back by the insurance company. On the other hand, the freedom to go to whatever doctor or hospital you want can be very convenient, especially if you travel a lot.

Basic Medical/Surgical Plans – This Charlotte health insurance is usually a type of supplemental health insurance that helps pay for a hospital stay, x-rays, lab-expenses, non-surgical services, and other hospital services. Many of these plans do not require a deductable, but are often limited in the amount that they will cover.

Major Medical Health Insurance Plans – These types of health insurance plans cover extreme cases of illness and will help pay for medical expenses incurred both in and out of the hospital. They help pay for prescription drugs used to treat the major illness as well. Major medical plans usually have deductibles and co-pay options available to make them more affordable. Normally the deductible is quite high, but it will certainly be much less than paying for all the expenses all on your own.

Long-Term Health Care Plans – This type of Greensboro health insurance will cover you if you require long-term care due to a disability from injury, terminal illness, or infirmity. These plans can greatly reduce your costs in case you become disabled and need to have constant care over an extended period of time.

When you are comparing the different types of health insurance options available to you, you should ask yourself a few questions to help you narrow down your search.

How healthy are you and your family? This question will help you most to decide on what type of plan to get and what kind of deductible to get. If you are healthy and don’t foresee that changing any time soon, you can get a much lower monthly premium by choosing a higher deductible. If you or a family member has many health risks, you may want to find a plan that will cover many illnesses for a lower deductible.

Do you want preventative care available? If you like to have yearly check-ups to find any potential problems and avoid expensive health problems later you should consider managed health care plans over FFS plans. This question is especially applicable if you have or will have children because they should have frequent check-ups throughout their youth.

Is there a particular doctor or hospital you want to use? If your answer is yes, you will have to find out what network they are in and sign up for insurance from that company. Otherwise you can get an indemnity health plan that will allow you to go to whatever doctor you choose.

How important is it to have access to many different specialists? If this is important to you, a managed health care plan might not be your best option because your primary care physician has to refer you to a specialist rather than you simply choosing one. If your PCP doesn’t think you need to visit a particular specialist, you will have to pay for that specialist completely.

Choosing individual health insurance can be a very daunting task, but knowing exactly what your needs are and what type of insurance plans are available will help you to find the right insurance for you at the lowest price possible.