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Health Insurance Plans — Choosing the Right Coverage

When you start shopping for individual health insurance coverage, you'll find out quickly that there are all kinds of different health insurance plans.

You can choose a managed care plan such as an HMO (Health Maintenance Organization), PPO (Preferred Provider Organization), or a POS (Point-of-Service) plan. You can also choose traditional indemnity health coverage, also known as an FFS (Fee-For-Service) health plan. And these aren't the only kinds of health insurance plans — they're just the most common.

The number of health insurance options can seem overwhelming, but it's actually a good thing that there are so many choices. Why? We all have unique needs, so a plan that might work for you might not work for someone else.

Using the Plan Finder

With the Plan Finder, you can compare plans instantly from top insurance carriers such as Aetna, many Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies, UnitedHealthOne, and more.

Here's how the Plan Finder tool works:

Start off by choosing the profile that best fits your situation. The profiles you can choose include coverage for individual health insurance, family health insurance, alternatives to COBRA coverage, senior health insurance, and Medicare products. The tool also allows you to customize your own profile.

After choosing your profile, choose the option that best suits the kind of health coverage you're looking for. Do you want a health plan that provides the best value for your money? Do you want a plan that provides the most coverage and most generous benefits possible? Or do you want to find a plan that offers the lowest cost?

Once you choose your desired type of coverage, you'll be able to see how many health insurance plans match your profile. We'll also provide personalized tips on what type of coverage to consider based on what coverage you would like.

For example, an individual looking for a health plan with the best value should consider a plan with a deductible between $1,000 and $3,000, should choose a plan that includes a copayment for routine care, and provides prescription drug coverage for generic and standard formulary brands.

You'll also notice that we match your plans based upon three different filters: copayment, coinsurance, and deductible.

To view health plan options online, you'll need to enter the following basic information to make sure that we return accurate plan matches:

1. What is your gender?
2. When is your date-of-birth?
3. What is your height and weight?
4. Do you smoke?
5. What is your Zip code?

After answering these basic questions, simply "View Plans" to compare health insurance plans and apply online for coverage in just seconds.

Health Plan Definitions

Here are some health plan definitions to help you use the Plan Finder tool.

Copayment (Copay)
The copayment, or copay, is the amount you owe for a medical bill expressed as a fixed dollar amount. Common kinds of medical services that require a copayment for care include routine doctor's office visits, prescription drugs at your local pharmacy, and emergency room and hospital admissions.

Any plan that specifies a copayment is a great way to save money for routine care. Plans that do not cover routine services with a copay require you to meet an annual deductible before any coverage kicks in.

When choosing a plan, keep in mind that health insurance plans with lower copayments for care can mean higher coinsurance, higher deductibles or higher monthly premiums.

Generally, the lowest copayment you can find is $10 for certain HMO plans. Alternatively, PPO plans will require copayments of $20 to $50 for certain medical services.

Coinsurance
Coinsurance represents the percentage of a medical bill you'll have to pay. One common example of coinsurance is a 20/80, which means you'll have to pay 20 percent of a bill from a health care provider.

Typically, you'll encounter coinsurance for only certain health care services with managed care plans such as HMOs and PPOs. For example, some PPO plans specify that outpatient surgeries aren't covered with a copayment. In this case, your plan will charge you a percentage of the price of the outpatient surgery.

Deductible
A deductible is the amount in health care costs you'll have to spend in a year before your health insurance coverage starts picking up the tab. For example, if your health plan has a $1,000 annual deductible, your plan won't pay for any care until you spend $1,000.

The good thing about most health plans is that routine health care services typically don't apply to the deductible. For instance, your health plan will pay for a majority of the bill for doctor's check-ups and prescription drugs whether you meet your annual deductible or not.