Insurance Basics: Home
Doctors and insurers use standard codes for each medical service or supply. That helps them communicate about treatments and payments clearly.
Your health insurance ID card is your proof of insurance. You use it when you visit the doctor, hospital or other provider.
Health plans negotiate the price of medical services with certain doctors, hospitals, labs and other providers.
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”.
A medical home is a type of doctor´s practice that uses a team to focus on the “whole person”. It is sometimes called a patient-centered medical home (PCMH).
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.