US Health Insurance, USA Health Insurance, US Medical Insurance, USA Medical Insurance, US Health Coverage, US Healthcare

By: EconomyWatch   Date: 26 May 2010

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US health insurance offers financial cover against medical expenses through privately owned cover, as well as social healthcare programs. The USA health insurance industry has seen tremendous growth over the years. A large part of the population is covered under public health insurance plans, while the rest rely on private insurance policies that offer extended health cover.

Public US Health Insurance

In order to ensure universal healthcare, the US government has launched several health insurance plans. Medicaid is a state-funded US health insurance program for low income families. Medicare targets senior citizens and disabled people. TRICARE and Veterans healthcare plans are meant for defense servicemen and their families.

Types of Private US Health Insurance Plans

Healthcare facilities began with the Blue Cross and Blue Shield programs. These programs provided affordable medical services through a group of physicians and hospitals registered under the plan. With the success of this plan, various other forms of US health insurance emerged over the years. Some of the most popular types of US health insurance plans are:

  • Health Maintenance Organization (HMO): This is a less expensive plan, which offers medical services through a network of physicians and hospitals with contracts with the insurance provider. Every patient has a primary physician who is responsible for preventive care. The primary doctor can coordinate with specialist physicians if needed. This healthcare plan has limited options for the policyholder.

  • Preferred Provider Organization (PPO): This plan is very similar to the HMO plan. The insurance company has a group of networked doctors and hospitals offering medical services at reasonably lower rates. Individual companies, and not the individual, pay for the medical expenses. However, under this plan a policyholder can opt to visit a non-network physician against payment of some extra premium.

  • Point Of Service (POS): This plan offers mixed benefits of both the earlier plans. An individual chooses a primary physician responsible for preventive medical treatment. However, for specialist services, the primary physician can refer to a doctor within or outside the network.

  • Health savings account (HSA): Only an individual who is enrolled under a high deductible health plan can buy a health savings account. A high deductible health plan is a healthcare scheme with lower premiums and higher deductible amounts. Under this plan, an individual accumulates savings over the years for medical expenses. The amount paid to the HSA is free of tax.

    • Apart from these basic policies, US health insurance companies offer several other schemes to meet individual requirements.


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