Health Insurance Choices

The consumer has a lot of main health care insurance options to choose from. The first three that quickly come to mind include the traditional co-payment plan and then there is the high deductible plan and many people choose the health care saving plan as their choice.

Starting with the first, the traditional co-payment plan, this one enables the consumer to accurately and easily to make health care cost predictions. Well and sick doctor visits are all part of the low co-payment structure. In many instances, the preventative care such as well visits are available free of charge. The co-payments will however vary depending on the doctor visits and the plan purchased. If the visit involves hospitalization, the patient is responsible for meeting the deductible amount specified in the policy and then is expected to pay a coinsurance percentage of the coinsurance maximum amount.

Here is a good example. Anna is seeing her doctor for a sore throat. At the time of her visit, she is expected to pay her co-payment amount, but then she is admitted to the hospital for a procedure to remove her tonsils. If the example were true she would be expected to pay the total cost of hospitalization that includes facility and physician costs up to her deductible amount. She is then responsible for a percentage of the remaining cost until she reaches her co-payment maximum. After reaching this amount Anna will not have to worry about health care costs for the rest of the calender year, except her co-payment amounts. A good rule of thumb to follow is that if the co-payments, the deductible and coinsurance numbers are low, the monthly premium payments will most definitely be higher.

These high deductible plans are great for insuring against major medical costs. The responsibility for all the health care costs fall on the consumer until they meet their deductible. A good note about this plan is that many of them provide preventative care that is free. The plans cost less than a copay plan per month, but the potential for more out of pocket expenses during the year should be expected if there is a need for more than normal health care services.

A relatively new kid on the health care insurance block is the Health Care Saving Plan. This is part of the high deductible you were informed about earlier and they do have a tax-advantaged savings account, meaning that all contributions to this type of account are tax deductible. Even if you have to make a withdrawal from the account for any approved medical expenses, they still remain tax free. Non-qualified withdrawals are taxed, but if you have money in the account at the end of the year it is allowed to be rolled over into the next year without penalties.

Customers have three main types of health insurance plans to choose from. You should always carefully consider all the pros and cons associated with what your are buying and health insurance plans are no exception. It should fit your needs, be affordable in context of monthly payments and ability to pay both the deductibles and coinsurance amounts, regardless of what health issues you face including a major illness. You should also consider the tax incentives when considering a health care insurance plan.