Individual Health Insurance

What You Should Know About Individual Health Insurance

If You Can’t Get Group Health Insurance

One of the main and most obvious reasons that individual health insurance may be the best type of health insurance plan for you is if you are unable to get group health insurance, or if you simply do not qualify for it. Why might you be unable to receive it or why may you not qualify? Well, there are a number of different reasons. For example, if you are self employed, work for a very small company that does not offer group health insurance, or if you have run out of COBRA benefits, then you may not be able to get group health insurance.

Different Types of Options

There are several different types of options when it comes to choosing the individual health insurance plan that might be the best for you. One of your options is fee for service insurance. This is a traditional kind of insurance policy in which part of your medical visits are paid for, including visits to the doctor and to the hospital. You will pay the extra cost of these visits. Generally, you will pay a higher monthly cost with this type of individual health insurance plan. One of the benefits to this type of health insurance plan is that you will be able to go to any type of doctor or hospital that you choose. The second option that you have for a individual health insurance plan is a managed care plan. With this type of plan, health insurance companies make contracts with doctors and hospitals to provide care to its members. Generally with a managed care plan, you will only be able to visit the doctors and hospitals that are within the company’s network. With some plans such as PPO’s, you may be able to visit doctors and hospitals outside of the network, usually at a higher cost. With HMO’s, your medical visits will be prepaid by the plan. You will need to make a small co-payment- such as ten or twenty dollars. Another option for you to choose from when it comes to individual health insurance plans is association based health insurance. This type of plan is offered by many different religious, professional and community organizations for their members, who will get medical coverage at group rates.

What Qualifications Are There?

The qualifications that you may need to meet in order to be eligible for individual health insurance plans is going to vary according to health insurance company. Generally, you will at least be required to answer a health questionnaire and go through a medical examination. A company may decide to decline insurance to a certain individual due to many contributing factors, such as personal habits, health condition, medical history, age, income, or many other various reasons.