Insurance Basics: Home
Your plan´s rules and costs may differ for some types of care. Knowing these rules can help you control your costs and get the right care in the right setting.
Doctors and insurers use standard codes for each medical service or supply. That helps them communicate about treatments and payments clearly.
Most medical plans do not include coverage for many dental services. Often, dental services are covered under a separate plan. Like medical plans, most dental plans have specific out-of-pocket costs, like coinsurance, copayments and deductibles.
Employers offer health coverage to their workers in several ways. Some buy an “off the shelf” plan from a commercial insurance company.
Your plan may contract with doctors, dentists and other healthcare practitioners; hospitals; labs; radiology facilities; pharmacies and other types of providers. These are the providers in your “network”.
Health insurance is important. It protects you against what can be the very high costs of healthcare. But, to get health insurance, you need to enroll, or sign up. And, in most cases, you can’t enroll in a health plan any time you want. You have to do it during certain times.