Health Insurance Options
Health insurance, like other forms of insurance, serves to spread the consequences of a loss that would normally fall upon a single individual over members of a large group. It also ensures that health care providers will be paid for services that an uninsured individual may otherwise not be able to afford. The two primary types of U.S. health plans addressed in this article are: (1) fee-for-service plans, which include traditional indemnity insurance; and (2) prepaid plans, which include popular managed care options such as health maintenance organizations (HMOs).
In addition to the two principal types of plans, government-backed health care plans, such as Medicare and Medicaid, serve as safety nets to furnish medical coverage to select groups of society and to those least...
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