Insurance Basics: Home
There are three main sources of health coverage. The first is your job. The second is a plan that you buy. The third is a government program for older, disabled or low-income
Your employer may offer more than one health plan, or you may be shopping for your own individual plan.
Your plan may have different rules and costs for different healthcare settings. In any setting, you may have to pay a copay, and in some cases, coinsurance. But, these may be waived for preventive services like flu shots and mammograms.
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.
New rules have expanded access to two types of limited health insurance plans. They are association health plans (AHPs) and short-term, limited duration (STLD) health plans. Because they don’t have to follow the Affordable Care Act, these plans can cost less than regular health plans. But, they have limitations you should know.
If you’re planning a trip, the last thing you may want to think of is healthcare. But accidents and
illnesses can happen on the road as well as at home. Here are the basics on using health insurance while
traveling.