Types of Health Insurance Plans Available in Arizona
In Arizona, consumers can find many variations of health insurance plans, each designed to fit a family's or individual's unique circumstances. As a first thought, you should determine whether you would prefer a private or a state-sponsored health plan. All state-sponsored plans have strict eligibility requirements designed to provide health insurance coverage to constituent groups that typically have difficulty purchasing mainstream health plans. In Arizona, the state-sponsored plans are offered through the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCS). AHCCCS has programs that offer affordable health insurance coverage to low-income families, children, seniors and small businesses.
After determining whether you will pursue private vs. state health care coverage, your next decision point should be to select whether you'll want a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) plan or a Preferred Provider Network (PPO) plan. With an HMO, you will be eligible to receive health care services only from an HMO designated service provider (doctor, lab services, hospitalization) and only for certain approved procedures. In an HMO, services are tightly controlled by the insurance plan, but the insurance premiums are significantly lower as a result. With a PPO network plan, you may use any health service provider (doctor, lab services, hospitalization) you choose, but you will be charged the low negotiated plan rates only when you use a health service provider that's in the plan's network. When you choose to use a non-network health service provider, you will be required to pay a higher percentage of the professional fees charged, plus those fees may be at a higher rate than a negotiated plan rate would have been.
Finally, once you've chosen between the HMO and PPO types of plans, you can begin to analyze individual plans for the benefits vs. pricing trade-offs that will most work for you. Individual plans may vary in the level of annual deductible amount ($250 to $10,000), the level of co-payments due at the appointments ($0 to $50), and the level of reimbursement for eligible charges (50% to 85%). In each case, as you get greater coverage and benefits, you will be charged a higher monthly insurance premium.