Your individual health insurance options

• Broadly speaking, the two most common types of health plans are: Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO) and Preferred Provider Organizations (PPO).
  
  
• HMO plans provide coverage for most types of medical costs, but your flexibility is limited by the fact that all your medical care is coordinated by a primary care physician.
  
  
• PPO plans allow you to go directly to specialists for medical care. Depending on the type of care you receive, you may share some of the costs in the form of a deductible, co-payment, etc.
  
  
• Other health plan options include Point of Service (POS), Fee-for-service (FFS) and Exclusive Provider Organizations (EPO). Once you have selected a company to purchase coverage from, you can find out the details of all the plan options they offer.
  
  
• Certain high-deductible plans can be used in conjunction with a separate Health Savings Account (HSA) to enable you to pay for qualified medical costs with pre-tax dollars. These are called “HSA-Compatible” plans. Find out more about HSAs.
  
  
• Purchase individual coverage directly over the internet.