At one time, only a few such as the self employed really had to know much about selecting medical insurance because for many years, the majority of the working population was working in "employee" status and Medical Insurance was a company benefit, and one that had very few choices involved.

Today that benefit is either disappearing or being offered with choices ranging from family plan to PPO to HMO to no participation; choices also include the amount of payroll deduction based on plan choice, and it