Health Insurance Plans

FFS, HMO, PPO, POS…You may have heard these terms thrown around before, but does anyone know what they actually mean? They’re each the initials of a certain type of health insurance plan. Below, you’ll see an explanation of each type and what kind of coverage they offer.

Types of Health Insurance Plans

FFS, Fee-For-Service, plans are a fairly conventional type of health insurance plan but are becoming increasingly less common. This type of plan will cover certain types of medical or health-related services, regardless of which healthcare provider you choose. The FFS plan affords policyholders a great deal of freedom to choose doctors and other facilities, but it also tends to be the most expensive.

HMO, Health Maintenance Organization, plans are quite different from fee-for-service plans, because policyholders are restricted to a network of approved doctors and healthcare providers which the plan will cover. Policyholders choose a primary care physician from the network and must receive a referral from this doctor to get specialist or hospital care. Though HMO plans are an affordable form of health insurance coverage, they’re not very flexible.

PPO, Preferred Provider Organization, plans also have a network of doctors, hospitals, pharmacies and other healthcare providers, much like an HMO. PPO plans more flexible than HMO plans, however, because PPO policyholders may go to a healthcare provider which is not in the network, though they will receive less coverage for the costs of medical services obtained from these providers.

POS, Point Of Service, plans have a network like PPO and HMO plans. They require policyholders to select a primary care physician who will grant referrals for specialist care, much like an HMO plan, but as with a PPO plan, policyholders may also receive coverage for services from healthcare providers outside of the network.

Health Savings Account

Introduced only a few years ago and gaining acceptance, health savings account (HSA) on a health insurance plans but rather exactly what the name implies – a bank account used to store funds totally tax-free in order to pay for virtually any kind medical and health care-related expenses.

In order to enjoy the benefits of an HSA, you must be enrolled in a “high-deductible health plan”. “High-deductible” means having a health insurance policy with a deductible of $1,100 for individuals and $2,200 for families. While this might seem like a lot of money, the account holder is saving money on their health insurance premium by having a high deductible and also by not having to pay tax on the money in the HSA.

Health Insurance Quotes

If you need to find the right kind of affordable health insurance coverage, your first step is using the easy search tool at the top of the page on TheHealthInsuranceQuotes.com. All you need is your ZIP code to start researching the top health insurance companies in your area. You can get cheap policy quotes on the best health coverage plans for you.