A good family health insurance plan ensures that your family can afford adequate medical care. Health insurance can be obtained from your employer or can be purchased privately. Health insurance companies often offer several different types of family health care plans, enabling you to choose the plan that is the least costly while providing the greatest benefit for your family.
Identification
Health insurance covers all or a portion of the costs incurred when you and your family members visit doctors, dentists, hospitals or other diagnostic and treatment facilities. Plans usually require that you pay a monthly premium to the insurance company to keep your policy active. If you obtain health insurance through your employer, your employer may pay for your policy or may split the cost of the policy with you. In some cases, your employer may pay for your coverage, but require you to pay for the cost of covering your family.
Health Insurance Types
Indemnity plans pay a certain percentage, such as 80 percent, of your covered medical expenses. This type of plan allows you and your family members to visit any doctor or hospital you choose and does not require referrals to visit your doctor. Health maintenance organizations (HMOs) require you to choose a primary doctor. All of your medical care is supervised by your primary doctor, who must write a referral before you are permitted to see a specialist. HMOs will not usually cover services performed by doctors or hospitals that are not part of the HMO network. Preferred provider organizations (PPOs) are less restrictive than HMOs, but require that you use a PPO-approved list of doctors and hospitals. If you choose to use out-of-network doctors or facilities, the PPO may only cover some of your costs.
Other Options
TRICARE is the military's health insurance plan for members of the armed forces and their dependents and offers in-network and out-of-network reimbursements, depending on the type of plan you choose. Medicaid (for low income people) and Medicare (for people over 65) are government health plans. If you qualify for this type of insurance, your options for doctors may be limited, as all doctors do not accept these types of plans. If you cannot obtain family health insurance through your employer or the government, you may need to buy a private policy from a health insurance company. Health insurance companies offer individual plans that you can tailor based on the needs of your family and your budget. Private insurance policies are usually more expensive than group policies and may not provide comprehensive coverage. If you are self-employed, you may be able to deduct your health insurance premiums from your Federal taxable income, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Procedure
Most health insurance plans include a co-pay, an amount you must pay directly to the doctor or hospital every time you visit. If you have an indemnity plan, your doctor may bill your health insurance plan for the visit and then bill you for the uncovered portion after receiving payment or may require an estimated payment of your portion of the costs at the time of the visit. Indemnity plans may also include a deductible, a certain amount you must pay yourself before your insurance coverage begins to make payments. If you participate in an HMO, you will not pay any additional costs other than your co-pay. TRICARE, Medicaid, Medicare plans may also require you to pay a co-pay for visits.
Considerations
If you participate in an employer-sponsored health insurance plan, you can join or make changes to the plan during an open enrollment period, held every year. You can only add or drop family members to your plan during the year if you have or adopt a baby, experience a marriage, divorce or death or if your spouse loses his job.
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