Florida Medical Insurance

Florida Medical Insurance-Health Insurance in Florida

There are three main ways to secure medical insurance in Florida.

• Through the state: If you qualify, there are programs through the state of florida that provide medical insurance through programs like Medicaid, Florida Healthy Kids for children, Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan.
• Employer Sponsored Group Medical Insurance: If you work for a company that offers medical insurance benefits to employees (usually full time only), you can get a guaranteed issued policy, that covers any and all pre-existing conditions (even pregnancy) from day one (with prior coverage, otherwise a 12 month wait on health conditions being covered applies in most situations).
• Private Medical Insurance: There are two types of medical insurance plans in florida:

Short Term/Temporary Medical Insurance:

These are medical insurance plans that are good for up to 12 months, sold on a month to month basis. A Florida Short Term Medical Insurance Plan, is like a major medical plan- however, there is a key difference.

They do not cover pre-existing conditions due to the fact these plans are meant to provide temporary coverage. These plans do provide coverage for Floridians who can not qualify for individual health insurance plan that is guaranteed to renew every year they choose to keep the plan.

Also, they are a good options for folks who can not qualify for a permanent health plan due to health conditions. Most Short Term Health applications only ask 5-7 questions and go into effect as soon as the following day.

Individual and Family/Major Medical Insurance: These are full coverage medical insurance plans available to clients for as long as they pay their premiums and the insurance carrier continues to offer coverage in Florida. There are three types of individual and family medical insurance plans that may be purchased in Florida:

Copay Plans: These are similar to the plans offered through employers, often what are referred to as “ Cadillac Plans”. They cover doctor visits at a copay (flat cost per service) of anywhere from $20-60. Also, they will cover prescription drugs at a copay usually after a separate deductible is met for the more expensive medications.

 
Hospital/Surgical Plans: These plans are very simple. In exchange, for a reduced premium, they put the risk on the client’s shoulders for most ongoing medical expenses (medications, lab testing, doctor visits, etc). They are designed to generally only cover inpatient hospitalizations and surgeries.

 
Catastrophic or High Deductible Health Plans: This type of medical insurance plan is designed to kick in once you’ve met your plan deductible, then they usually cover a client at 100% for the rest of the calendar year.

These plans actually provide the best coverage for your premium dollar. Anytime you have a covered medical expense (doc visit, meds, lab testing etc), if the provider is in network you are only charge the “allowable amount” which is the provider’s contracted rate they have agreed to with your florida medical insurance carrier (which can amount to a 30-60 % savings across the board).

A High Deductible Health Plan is the best value because all expenses are credited towards the plan deductible. With Copay plans, those $20-60 copays for doctor visits, $200-1000 deductible on drugs , and of course the copays for meds do not count towards the deductible on a Copay or Hospital Surgical Plan, but they do on a High Deductible Health Plan, which can have a deductible usually ranging anywhere from 1500 to 10,000.