Choosing the right family health insurance is the greatest challenge. You have to consider a lot of things before you decide on one. Naturally, questions range from benefits to how much you have to pay. Still, it is better to ask certain questions for your own peace of mind. These questions are basically about the percentage of costs covered and what benefits you will get. The choice of course is another factor; whether you can choose your primary care physician, or require a referral to the specialist. Now comes the money factor involving how much you can pay for the monthly premium, the deductibles and the co-insurance costs.

Selecting the right health plan depends upon your purchasing power and the type of insurance you need. If you want to pay less for consultations, hospital visits and medical bills, you have to opt for a higher-premium plan. Health plans also differ with the way you wish to consult a practitioner: some limit you to a specific practitioner while others allow you to visit any doctor you want.

The other plans are the affordable ones, which include the fee-for-service, HMOs, PPOs and POS. In the fee-for-service plan you have to pay the medical practitioner a fee for the consultation or the medical service he provides you. The doctor, the hospital or you can claim the reimbursement for the covered services under this insurance.

Fee-for-service policies reimburse only 80% of your expenses; you have to pay the rest 20%. This portion of the medical expenses that you bear is called the co-insurance.

The next type of plan is managed care. The managed care plans also give comprehensive health care for their members. In managed care plans you need not pay a fee for the service; instead, it is pre-paid. HMOs, or health maintenance organizations, provide managed care plans. This is one of the affordable health insurance options. The HMO will charge you a monthly or quarterly premium. As extras you have to pay only small amounts of