Health insurance options are aplenty and more choices are added all the time. Keep up with all of the changes by knowing your terms. This will help you choose the plan that best suits your needs.

A fee for service plan (also called indemnity insurance) is a type of health care insurance in which payment to health care providers are paid at the time of service. This means that instead of paying a high premium every month, the patient pays each time a service is needed instead.

What’s the Difference?

How is this different from not having health insurance at all? Fee for service plan members are required to pay a low premium every month in addition to the co-pay for services and an annual deductible. The costs of each service is significantly lower than if a person without health insurance had to pay a medical facility in full for check-ups, tests, in patient and out patient services.

Limitations

There is a couple of drawbacks to fee for service plans. Members must choose their doctors and the medical facilities where they will be treated from an approved list. Another drawback is that fee for service plans don’t cover preventative medicine. This means that check ups, immunizations, and visits to the doctor’s office must be paid out of the member’s pocket and are not applied to the deductible.

Who Are Fee For Service Plans For?

The fee for service plan offers immediate medical treatment, so those who don’t like to deal with paperwork and waiting that accompanies many health insurance plan claims may appreciate this service. Families and women who need check ups regularly won’t find the fee for service plan economical, but those who don’t go to the doctor very often at all and hate to waste money on high premiums will find that this is the perfect choice!

Every fee for service plan is different, so make sure that you spend some time doing your research and compare your choices.