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Optimize Your Healthcare Insurance

The financial cost of healthcare presents a great challenge to many patients and their families. Insurance policies provide protection from high costs and lower the financial barriers to accessing care.

The main types of insurance plans are:

Indemnity insurance that covers a percentage of costs for any care received,
Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) plans that provide all care within a given institution or organization for a fixed premium,
Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) and Point of Service (POS) plans that cover a large percentage of costs when care is received within a designated network of providers and institutions,
Consumer-Directed Coverage that include spending arrangements allowing consumers to set aside funds for care such as health savings accounts (which are usually coupled with other high deductible health plans), and
Government plans that cover specific demographics (like Medicare for patients over age 65) and or patients with specific needs (like Medicaid for patients with very low incomes or disability).

Insurance may be paid for by employers, patients, and/or the government. The millions of patients who do not have healthcare insurance need to pay for their cost of care directly or seek the assistance of institutions, organizations and providers to donate their care.

We have provided a number of resources below to help you navigate the insurance landscape and to help you you make your care more affordable.

The Health Insurance section of MedlinePlus and the America’s Health Insurance Plans, National Association of Insurance Commissioners, and Consumer Guides are excellent resources that help you understand and make decisions about your health isurance.

The links to the Health Resources and Services Administration supported community health centers, Hill-Burton free and reduced cost care facilities, the Medicaid and Medicare programs and Insure Kids Now (the State Child Health Insurance Program) help direct older and younger patients, and those in need, to find affordable care and/or insurance coverage.

The link to the National Committee for Quality Assurance Health Plan Report Card helps you narrow down your choice between plans. This resource enables you to compare amongst the hundreds of health plans they’ve evaluated, including those that care for commercially insured individuals and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.

The Patient Advocate Foundation is a great resource that helps patients with life threatening and debilitating conditions solve insurance and healthcare access problems.

DestinationRx provides helpful tools to identify and purchase lower cost prescription drugs.

RxAssist helps patients with need find ways to get affordable, or free, medications.

Resources

Super Smart Health

Empowering Health and Wellbeing

Optimize Your Healthcare Insurance