Different Types of Health Insurance

With the myriad of health insurance plans available nowadays, choosing one can become quite a task indeed. To help you in selecting a health insurance plan, here are some of the different types.

Individual Health Insurance

While most employer's offer their employees a health insurance plan, they are not required to. If you do not have work health insurance, you may need to take an individual insurance plan. Such a plan can cover your immediate family too. Individual insurance plans are specifically created with the person's medical history in mind and thus tend to be quite expensive. So make sure you get an informed health insurance quote.

Group Insurance

Taking health insurance as part of a group (a work group, family and friends group etc) is much more cost effective than an individual plan. However, such health insurance plans too can have increased premiums even if you do not make any claims, because there are likely to be others in the group who do. Make sure the health insurance quote is right for you.

Federal Health Insurance Plans

The federal government has some health insurance plans for those who may not be able to afford the high costs of individual health insurance on their own. These include Medicaid, Medicare, and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO) Plans

An HMO is a group health insurance plan, which is among the most cost effective. However, these do have certain restrictions placed on the insured. The insured can be treated only by doctors who form the panel of the HMO. As an insured, you also have to select a primary care physician, whose recommendation is mandatory if a specialist doctor needs to be consulted.

These are just few of the many health insurance plans available.