Today, health care costs are high, and getting higher. Who will pay your bills if you have a serious accident or a major illness? You buy health insurance for the same reason you buy other kinds of insurance, to protect yourself financially.

With health insurance, you protect yourself and your family in case you need medical care that could be very expensive. You can't predict what your medical bills will be. In a good year, your costs may be low. But if you become ill, your bills could be very high. If you have insurance, many of your costs are covered by a third-party payer, not by you. A third-party payer can be an insurance company or, in some cases, it can be your employer.

That is why it is essential for you to obtain health insurance. There are two different types of health insurance plans and I will just take a moment to explain the briefly to you. They are the reimbursement plan and the managed care plan. The reimbursement plans also known as the indemnity plans. Managed care plans are better known as PPOs, POS, or HMOs.

Indemnity and managed care health plans explained

An indemnity health insurance plan lets you choose your own doctors. However it is limited in that the plan pays for your medical bills in part, in full, or up to a certain amount specified for a certain number of days depending on how much you have paid.

A managed care health insurance plan covers the full cost, minus a co-pay, and has a more extensive coverage range. However, and this is important, you must use an "in network" doctor. The reason is that these companies have prearranged agreements with certain doctors, and you will only be covered by the health insurance company if you use the in-network doctors. You cannot choose a doctor if they are not prearranged with the insurance company.

How To Decide Which Health Insurance Plan Is For You

When choosing a health insurance plan, make sure you look for the coverages that apply in your situation. For example, hospital expenses should include room, board, and any other expenses that you may incur during your stay. If you need surgery, all surgeon fees and surgical expenses should be covered in the plan, as should expenses for doctor visits, whether in the hospital or the doctor's office. Most health insurance plans should cover all major illness or injury fees.

If you want there are some extra coverages that you might want to consider, such as vision care, preventative care, maternity care, prescription medication, and mental health care. To be sure, check with different insurance providers to see if they offer these options. Some providers might include other plans such as dental care.

There is no doubt about it, health insurance is a big investment, and you should carefully consider all of the options when making a decision between managed and indemnity plans. As you can imagine, each insurance company is different and so you should look at as many options and plans as possible to pick the best one for you.

The company that you would choose would be the one that gives you the most coverage for the least amount of money, and is financially solvent enough to back up your claims. The last thing you want is for the company to not be able to afford to pay up when you need them most.

Here are some other considerations to be made when shopping for a health insurance provider. Use this as a checklist:

• Does the plan include the doctors that you are currently seeing?
• Can you use any doctor, or do you need to stay within the provider's network?
• Are the health care benefits that you need covered, such as maternity or oncology?
• Does the plan cover pre-existing conditions?
• Are there any co-insurance company policies?
• Does the policy only cover a person individually, or is the entire family covered?
• How much are the co-pays and deductibles?
• Finally, does the company that you are looking into have a reputable standing within the industry?

I hope that you never need it but if you do then you will be glad that you did your homework first and set up a health insurance plan that is right for you and your loved ones.