- HMO. HMO stands for Health Maintenance Organization and the name implies what these plans are designed to do, maintain your health. In most of these plans, though not all, you are required to have a primary care physician who will look over your health and recommend you to a specialist if necessary. These are the most common plans sold today and are some of the most affordable. Your doctors and hospitals in these plans will be restricted to the insurance companies network. If you go outside of this network you will not have any coverage.
- PPO. Preferred Provider Organization. These plans usually have excellent benefits, thought not always, and they don't confine you to the network of the insurance company. You don't need referrals to go to specialist but there is usually a defined benefit for using doctors and hospitals outside of the insurance companies network that gives you lesser coverage than if you were in the network. In other words, if you go outside of the insurance companies network you will have coverage, but in most cases it will cost you more.
- POS. Point of Service. These plans are a mixture of an HMO and a PPO. In most cases you will have to have a primary care physician, but you will have access to some out of network benefits. There are POS plans where you will not have to have a primary care physician, blurring the lines of a POS and a PPO.
- HSA. Health Savings Account. These plans are relatively new and were created by the federal government as a way to save on your taxes through your health insurance. Pre-tax money from your paycheck can be deposited in an HSA account run by a financial institution and the account may accrue interest. This money can then be used tax free for your health insurance costs, or in retirement. The downside to these plans is that they must be high deductible plans and money has to come out of your pocket before any benefits begin.
