Choosing a health insurance plan can be a confusing and frustrating process. Much like walking a corn maze blindfolded. Out of network, in the network, total out of pocket, 20% coverage, what does this all mean? Below is a step by step guide for choosing a health insurance plan that meets your needs. How to Find a Health Insurance Plans For Individuals and Families Health Insurance Offered by Work or School: For those who have health insurance plans offered to them by work skip down to the “types of health insurance plans.” Most students will choose their schools’ health insurance as it is often reasonably priced and located on the campus, which provides easy access to care for students. In the case that your health insurance is offered to you through work or school you will be given information on the companies and plans to compare. Private Health Insurance: If you are a contractor, part-time worker, dislike the plans offered by your work, or for other reasons need private insurance the first step is to find a website that offers private health insurance. Health.gov is a government run site that takes into account your age, family size, and income to determine the cost of various health plans and if you are eligible for government assistance.

Notwithstanding state-wise variations, there are four main types of healthcare plans: PPO, HMO, HSA, and indemnity plans. These plans are further classified as catastrophic, bronze, silver, gold, platinum. Types of Health Insurance Plans  PPO  stands for “Preferred Provider Organization.” A PPO plan is a type of plan that contracts with health care providers and groups to create a participating pool of providers. A PPO plan is very popular, particularly among individual and family insurance purchasers. If you are covered under a PPO plan, you operate within a list of providers that are on the insurance company’s list. Going to a doctor, specialist or hospital on the insurance company’s list will allow you to get the most coverage for medical needs. Also, if you want to switch to a provider, you can, but it will cost extra to do so. https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/preferred-provider-organization-PPO/ HMO  stands for “Health Maintenance Organization.” An HMO offers care through a network of doctors and other medical professionals that exclusively contract with the HMO to provide care. Healthcare providers who contract with the HMO provide services to HMO members. HMO plans tend to require the selection of a “primary care physician,” who will coordinate your care. This primary care physician will refer the patient to specialists and other providers within the healthcare plan when needed.

Comparing Plans: There are several factors to consider when comparing health insurance plans; monthly cost, total annual cost, quality of care, in network doctors, reviews by customers, how many people need to be covered under the plan, and what your medical needs are. Cost:To determine the cost of a plan look at the deductible and the maximum out of pocket total amount. The deductible will be the amount of money you will need to spend before the health insurance company will cover any of your medical costs. The maximum total amount out of pocket the the highest amount of money you will need to pay before the health insurance company will cover all your bills. Often times the deductible will be lower than the maximum. So if you deducible is $3,000 that is the amount of medical costs you will have to pay out of pocket before health insurance will help cover some or a portion of your bills. If your maximum annual out of pocket is $7,000, than after paying $7,000 you will not have to pay any more for health bills, no matter how much you charge. Often times the lower plans like the bronze and higher plans like the gold will have a similar total maximum out of pocket cost.

Just as individuals are required to obtain heath insurance or face tax penalties, businesses with over 50 employees are required to offer health insurance or pay a fine. In many cases, the fine costs more than offering the health insurance. If your business has less than 50 employees then you are exempt and will not face fines if you decide not to offer health insurance. Choosing which plans to buy can be a confusing process, especially for small to moderate sized business owners who face financial constraints. Below is a guide to help employers understand the health insurances options available and how to keep employees healthy and happy while maintaining costs. Why Purchase Health Insurance Before explaining how to purchase health insurance, there is an important question that needs answering: why? Some business owners may wonder why they should provide health insurance to employees, questioning whether it would be cheaper or more efficient to allow people to purchase their own individual plans. This perception is actually inaccurate. Purchasing health insurance makes fiscal sense, as it protects your health, business, and finances. Providing health insurance for your employees makes financial sense for two reasons; often times the business is able to negotiate a lower rate with the health insurance as opposed to the individual and two, offering health insurance can often increase employees desire to work at your business and may result in better candidates applying for the job.

When it comes to getting health coverage with pre-existing conditions there can be a lot of confusion on what it takes to what qualified versus what can disqualify you. Millions of people struggle to find health insurance due to pre-existing conditions and the search to find acceptable coverage can be frustrating. Before the Affordable Care Act was passed, there were numerous ways in which citizens were being denied due to their conditions. Now that Trump is President this could change again, but this guide takes a look at the current facts about health insurance and pre-existing conditions. What is a Pre-existing Condition? Typically a pre-existing condition is defined as an illness, sustained injury, or disability that a person has before applying for healthcare coverage. However, the definition of a pre-existing condition can change between states or even between insurance companies. As of 2014, no individual can be denied health insurance based on a pre-existing condition. This means that the definition no longer needs to be taken as seriously as it should not cause any road blocks on the steps to gaining health insurance. Health Coverage Denial Before the Affordable Care Act was passed there were over 400 ways that a person could be denied coverage.