Insurance Basics: Home
Your employer may offer more than one health plan, or you may be shopping for your own individual plan.
Thanks to a law passed in the spring of 2020, most Americans can be tested for COVID-19 for free. But that law didn’t make treatment for the virus free. Medical services for COVID-19 can be costly and sometimes run into tens of thousands of dollars. Whether or not you’ve been diagnosed with COVID-19, you can take steps now to understand your protections under the law and manage the costs of your treatment.
Health insurance protects you from paying the full cost of your care. But, you will likely still have to pay some money out of your pocket. Almost all plans call for “cost sharing”. That means your insurer pays for part of your care, and you pay for part.
Most health plans don´t cover treatments they regard as “experimental”. Sometimes, they may deny a claim for such a treatment.
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.
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.