Managed health care plans are a variation from traditional private medical insurance plans like indemnity health insurance. Managed care was first tried in the United States on a large scale about 20 years ago. The advantage to these plans is that they are structured to keep provider costs under control which results in more predictable and less out of pocket costs for plan members to receive medical services.It helps to understand the basis for how doctors, hospitals and other medical service providers get paid in the United States in order to understand why and how managed care plans evolved and will continue to evolve. Medical care in the United States is a fee for service arrangement between patients and doctors. Doctors provide specific health services like yearly checkups or treatment for minor aches or ailments for routine care and oversee hospitalization and treatment for more serious illnesses or medical conditions. Patients pay fees to the doctor, hospital and other medical service providers for each of these services.A traditional indemnity plan is based on reimbursing a portion of the fees, usually 80%, that a patient pays for medical services. Usually, a doctor or hospital will bill the indemnity insurance for their portion of the charges first and then bill the patient for the remaining amount to pay. For many people, indemnity insurance can leave them under insured, meaning these people have a hard time paying 20% of medical service charges in addition to having to meet a health insurance deductible at 100% of the charges before the insurance starts paying anything for services billed.Managed care plans can be a better option for people that are under insured when using an indemnity plan. These plans work with medical service providers like doctors and hospitals to agree in advance the fees that will be paid for specific medical services. In turn, members that use these plans agree to give up flexibility of choice and choose a doctor or hospital from within the network of providers approved by the plan. Plan members might also pay a higher premium. In exchange for this, members usually only owe a fixed dollar amount copay for routine medical services with no or a lower health insurance deductible.In summary, managed care plans can provide more predictable and lower out of pocket costs for those people that find themselves under insured with other types of private health insurance. What you give up in flexibility of choice in your doctor or hospital, you can gain with more financial piece of mind when planning how to pay for your health care expenses.
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Senior Health Care Insurance – Sourcing The Right Plan
As people reach their senior years the task of protecting assets and putting in place the appropriate legal, financial and health coverage can be quite confusing and somewhat daunting. As people reach their senior years the task of protecting assets and putting in place the appropriate legal, financial and health insurance coverage can be quite confusing and somewhat daunting. One of the most complicated matters that is required to be addressed is that of putting in place an appropriate senior health care insurance plan. As such it is vitally important to recognize that there are quite a number of options that should be considered when it comes to this specialized type of insurance. However, once the required information is obtained it makes the job of selecting the appropriate senior health care insurance plan a much simpler task.The Seniors’ Health Insurance Information Program is one resource that you definitely should take advantage of before you choose any senior health care insurance plan. This program will ensure all your questions regarding Medicare supplements, Medicare prescription drug plans, long-term care insurance and other important matters are adequately answered. Armed with this information you will be in a much better position to decide on the best options for your particular circumstancesWhen you start to select a senior health care insurance plan, the first thing you need to do is to actually work out what the available options are and which ones will best suit your needs. It is strongly recommended that you make contact with providers of senior health care insurance. You can call them by phone or check out their websites or even go through the Better Business Bureau. The important questions you should address are:* How long has each insurance company been in business?* How reputable are they?* What types of plans are they offering?The next step is to obtain premium or contribution quotes. You typically do not have to pay to get quotes. This information is definitely going to be a major influence in your decision as to which senior health care insurance arrangement you take-up. There are a multitude of plans available for almost every level of health, whether your health is at a premium or if there are existing or potential health concerns. As you are no doubt aware, senior health care can be very expensive but is a much safer option than not buying insurance at all.With the protection afforded by senior health care insurance you are effectively capping the cost of any medical treatment you may require in the future and by doing so you are also ensuring that you, or your supporting family, will not experience any serious financial trouble in funding any urgent or costly long term medical attention.The most important aspect of organizing comprehensive and effective senior health care insurance is that you can rest assured that should you become seriously ill then you will be afforded the very best of medical attention, notwithstanding the massive expense this involves. So if you or your parents are approaching the time to obtain senior health care insurance then please remember you must investigate all options available to you so that you are adequately protected well into the future.