In the present-day uncertain life, acquiring a health insurance policy has become very important. Health insurance helps in safeguarding you and your family against any kind of health issues. The health cover policies provide complete coverage to the insured person for dealing with the medical expenses, cost of surgeries and rehabilitation. Since the past few years, there has been a considerable rise in the rates of these health assurance plans and the people have been looking for various effective ways to deal with the augmentation. In the early 1990's, HMO (Health Maintenance Organization) was formed in order to curb the ever-growing rates of the insurance companies.
The main objective behind the formation of HMO was to contain the cost of insurance claims and offer lower cost health cover plans in return. This objective was accomplished by restricting the physicians and infirmaries to certain companies, who will consent to bring down the reimbursement rates for providing insurance services. Various HMO plans, started out with the doctors, hospitals and other organizations, helped in providing affordable health cover policies to the people. This step was beneficial for the people who used medical facilities within the stipulated network.
Before the HMO cover plans, the option of co-payment for the doctor's visit was unknown. These visits were included, but they were covered along with the other expenses which were also subjected to co insurance. For instance, if the deductible amount was $500 and the doctor's visit fees were $200, the patients had to pay $200 from their pocket. But, with the advent of MHO's, if you visit a physician within the stipulated network, you can get the co payment without worrying about the deductible amount. People were able to save extra amount of money, which was earlier used in paying heavy monthly premiums.
Obtaining HMO health insurance cover is a good idea for the people. However, there is a problem associated with obtaining these kinds of policies. You are restricted to a certain number of hospitals and doctors within the HMO network. If you are availing the benefits of HMO and visit a doctor outside your network, you will not be entitled to any kind of coverage. In order to curb the ever rising rates, HMO included only one doctor or hospital in the network. It is highly beneficial if you are visiting that particular hospital or doctor. But in case, you are seeing any other specialist outside the network, you will have to deal with all the expenses out of your own pocket.
In spite of these negative points, HMO's are still widely popular all around the globe. Now, these HMO's include a large number of hospitals and physicians in their network so as to allow the users to deal with the health issues effectively. With the help of these HMO health covers, you can save a great deal of money by visiting the doctors within your network. So, if you are looking forward to save a great deal of money while dealing with your chronic health issues, then obtaining HMO policies is the best option for you.
