Difference and Similarities Among the Major Types of Health Plans

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Difference and Similarities among the major types of health plans 01/04/2012 The two major types of insurances in the United States are the indemnity and managed. Indemnity insurance patients can choose health care providers and hospitals. Referrals to specialists are not required. Patients pay deductible and insurance will pay the major part of the bill if the expenses will be considered “reasonable and customary”. Preventive care services are not covered. Positive is that doctors will receive higher revenue if they will see more patients (Valerius, Bayes, Newby, & Seggern, 2008). HMO is a managed care and most restricted plan. HMO patients choose medical providers only from the list and referrals are required. Also (except IPA members) doctors cannot participate in other plans. Provided services and drug costs are limited which can prevent physicians to make important decisions regarding patient’s care. In compare to indemnity plan HMO providers are at risk to receive lower revenue because of the capitation. Positive is low copayments and covered preventive care to patients (Raffel, Barsukiewicz, & Raffel, 2002). POS plan members choose primary doctors from the list and referrals to see specialist are required, however there is no deductible and copayments are low. Partial coverage provided for out-of-net doctor visit (Valerius, Bayes, Newby, & Seggern, 2008). PPO and CDH plans are similar and I think more financially beneficial than other plans to patients and doctors because of their flexibility. PPO patients can choose any medical professional they want; but they will pay less to visit net doctors. PPO medical providers can participate in other plans as well. PPO and CDHP have high deductible (usually paid by employer) and low premium. In CDHP “savings account” helps to pay the bills before deductible will be met (Valerius,

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