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One of the most well known of all the health insurance plans is the Health Maintenance Organization or HMO.

Membership to a Health Maintenance Organization involves a monthly fee, usually deducted from the paycheck of the employee. In many cases, the employer, as part of the total compensation package offered, shares this expense with the employee.

But in recent years, insurance companies have made HMO plans available to everyone as a means of lowering costs.

Using your Health Maintenance Organization medical insurance usually begins by choosing a primary care physician from the supplied list of medical providers. Your primary care physician can be thought of as your family or personal doctor. You would visit this doctor for your general health needs. If you have children, you would also choose a pediatrician as their primary care doctor.

Office visits to your primary care physician or any other specialist in the provider network, such as a dermatologist, will require that you pay a co-payment per visit. This co-payment varies by plan and helps to offset the overall cost of the insurance for all of the participants by forcing more shared expense upon those who use the benefits the most.

This holds true for prescriptions and hospital visits. Prescription drug co-payments are usually less than that for office visits, but, again, the idea is for those who use the benefit the most to contribute more to the plan.

Hospital co-payments are generally more than that for office visits, and while these are also designed to help offset the cost, the primary purpose is to serve as a deterrent. Hospital visits, such as an emergency room visit, are expensive to the insurance company. Substantially increasing the co-payment amount for a hospital visit is designed to encourage the plan participant to wait if possible to see their primary care physician before seeking emergency help.

America is not the only country to see changes in HMO health insurance. Many other counties such as China, have seen a rise in uninsureds. In fact, China health insurance regulations may soon allow US health insurance companies to begin marketing there.

While HMO plans are similar in design, the types of coverage offered by a health insurance company can vary greatly in options and associated costs. Similarly, the options and costs between insurance companies can vary just as greatly.

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