Florida State Health Insurance

The first thing you need to know about individual health insurance is that there are two types of insurance plans – indemnity insurance plans, and HMO insurance plans.

Indemnity insurance basically means that you (or your employer) will have to pay a set monthly premium to the insurance company. In turn, you will have the freedom to choose any doctor or medical institution to get your treatment. Indemnity insurance gives you a lot of freedom in choosing your medical provider, and can be great if you already have a family doctor, or would like to a doctor not covered under an HMO plan (more on this later). Indemnity insurance plans will usually cover the entire spectrum of your health care, including prescription medications (although this varies with different plans).

In a HMO plan, on the other hand, you basically pay for access to a particular network of doctors and medical providers. You cannot go outside the network, no matter what your illness or requirement may be. This lack of freedom along with the limited number of doctors in the network usually means a lot of bureaucratic hurdles in receiving treatment.

Indemnity plans are typically quite expensive, running into $1000+ for a family of four. HMO plans, on the other hand, are way cheaper. However, despite the lower costs, HMO insurance is not the best option, particularly if you, or someone in your family suffers from a serious illness. Because of the limited network of care providers and doctors, it takes a long time to get approval for a specific medical treatment from your primary doctor in a HMO plan, leading to severe medical lapses.

Indemnity plans, on the other hand, do not suffer from such limitations and redundancies. Since you are free to choose any doctor, you can get the best treatment in the quickest possible time. If you can afford it, indemnity insurance is the way to go when picking up an individual health insurance.