Insurance Basics: Home
Medical supplies and equipment, such as bandages and wheelchairs, and ambulance rides are often listed separately on bills and Explanation of Benefits (EOB) forms.
Your health insurance ID card is your proof of insurance. You use it when you visit the doctor, hospital or other provider.
After you visit a provider, you may get a bill telling you how much you have to pay.
To look up the estimated costs for behavioral health services (including mental health and alcohol and/or drug services), go to our home page, fairhealthconsumer.org, and click on Medical and Hospital Costs.
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.
Sometimes you know ahead of time that a major event will happen in your life. Examples might include getting married or divorced, changing jobs or having a baby. Other times, such as at a death, you may not have advance warning.