Insurance Basics: Home
Your employer may offer more than one health plan, or you may be shopping for your own individual plan.
Skipping health insurance may seem like you’re saving money in the short run—especially if you’re young and healthy. But the cost of getting care without health insurance can be more than you expect. An unforeseen hospital stay, for example, can cost you tens of thousands of dollars.
Your plan contracts with a wide range of doctors and other practitioners, as well as hospitals, labs, radiology facilities, pharmacies and other providers. These are the providers in your “network”. Each of these providers has agreed to take your plan´s contracted rate as payment in full for services.
Your health insurance ID card is your proof of insurance. You use it when you visit the doctor, hospital or other provider.
Suppose you receive care in a hospital that is in your health plan´s provider network. You may still get a bill from providers who treated you at the hospital but are not part of your plan´s network.
Being covered under two health plans doesn't mean the two plans will pay the same amount twice for the same doctor visit. Instead, the plans follow rules about which plan pays what, known as "coordination of benefits."