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Individual Family Health Insurance |
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Written by David Sinatra
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Finding individual family health insurance seems very easy to do. But in most cases it isn’t. It is finding the right family plan that will meet the needs of every individual in the family. It also depends on what stage in your life that you are in when choosing an individual family health plan. If you are just starting your family and it is you and your spouse then you know there will be visits made to the Dr. when you or your spouse becomes pregnant. After this there will be multiple visits needed for the baby to see the Dr.
Although it is a lot to think about choosing the right individual family health plan will save you time and money in the future. Taking your time now to choose the right plan is the best way to go.
Many think that choosing individual family health insurance will be very expensive and many brace themselves for the blow. But if you take the time and compare and research the different plans it may be less expensive than you thought. The trick is to do comparison-shopping and not rush into anything to quickly.
Managed care plans seem to be the most popular choice in choosing individual family health plan. These are set up into networks of doctors, clinics, hospitals, specialists and many other heath care organizations. If you or a family member choose a participating member you get discounted health care. In the end this means lower costs for you all the way around. You receive lower costs in copayments, coinsurance and premiums. The leading types of managed health individual family health insurance are as follows.
- Health Maintenance Organization (HMO)- This is the least expensive type of managed care. Many of the copayments are about $10 for an office visit. And many of these HMO’s do not call for a deductible. You are allowed to choose your main or primary care Dr. from within the network. Many Drs. Belong to multiple insurance programs so it is very likely that you Dr. may already be a member. In the even that you or anyone in your family need to see a specialists you will need a referral from your primary care Dr. If you do not get this referral the visit and any procedures performed will not be covered.
- Preferred Provider Organization (PPOs)- This is different from the above HMO. In this type of insurance you can pick which Dr. you would like to see. If you go to a in-network Dr. but you will also be covered if you choose to see a Dr. that does not practice within the network. The only catch to this is you will have to pay more. But this pan also gives you the flexibility to choose your own Dr. Many choose this after looking into the HMO and realizing their Dr. is not part of the network.
- Point Of Service Plans (POS)- This plan uses the elements from both of the previous plans. You can choose a primary care from the in-network list but you are still “allowed” to see Drs. that do not practice from within the network. This plan is like combining the best of both worlds.
The one type of individual family insurance that is expensive is the Fee-For-Service or FSS. This type of insurance is not managed care and do not interact with any health care provider networks.
Although at first glimpse it may seem like a great plan it isn’t. For families looking for individual family health insurance this insurance does not offer any type of preventive care such as well baby visits.
Individual family health insurance can get tricky. Many ask do we get one individual plan that covers everyone or do we get individual insurance fir each person? Lets see the difference.
Have your individual plan and cover everyone- Many individual insurance companies will allow you to add family members right under your individual plan. You have a family member who is stricken with some type of medical ailment such as asthma or diabetes or any other factor that will need continual care than this may not be the way to go. The way insurance coverage works is that any pre-existing problems will drive the insurance premium up and individual coverage may actually work better for this situation. If everyone has similar health needs than this would be the way to go.
Individual plans for each person- When choosing which individual family health insurance is going to be the best here is a rule to think about. If everyone in your family has separate needs than the individual plans would be the way to go. If you have a child with asthma, and spouse is expecting and so on then there are varied types of care that will be needed.
By accessing the health insurance resource center you’ll be able to locate a health plan that fits within your budget and meets your family guidelines. |
