From Mary Shomon Your Thyroid Guide
Making Sense of Your Health Plan: Health Plan Guide for Women Available Free
Does your health care plan provide the coverage you need? Which plan is best suited to meet the health needs of your family? How can you take advantage of all the services your health plan has to offer? A new consumer-friendly guide helps women answer these questions and many more.
Women are often the primary health care decision makers for their families and comprise more than half the people enrolled in managed care plans. But many women do not understand how their health plans work or how to take advantage of all of their plan's benefits. Developed through a collaborative effort by the Jacobs Institute of Women's Health, the National Partnership for Women & Families and the CIGNA Foundation, "The Health Plan Guide for Women: How to Shop for a Plan & Get the Most Value" is specifically designed to help women understand the different types of health benefits plans so they can evaluate and select a plan that best meets their and their family's health care needs.
"Today's woman wants choice and flexibility in all kinds of products and services, including her health plan," says the Guide. "However, with more options comes the responsibility -- and challenge -- of being able to make informed decisions based on what criteria are most important to you."
"The Health Plan Guide" gives women clear, accessible information on managed care and how to "shop" for the best type of health plan for their families. It outlines the spectrum of managed care plans, from health maintenance organizations (HMOs) to point-of-service plans to open access plans to preferred provider organization plans. It explains in easy-to- understand language how the various types of plans work, how coverage decisions are made and how quality is measured. A particularly valuable resource is an at-a-glance chart that compares the different types of health plans by several key criteria, including: Choice of a Primary Care Provider; Access to Specialty and Out of Network Care; Prevention and Wellness Services; Quality Monitoring; Cost Sharing; and How Claims are Filed. The Guide also provides checklists of services and features and a glossary of managed care terms and acronyms for easy reference.
It is designed to help women become familiar with the intricacies of health plans, allowing them to better take advantage of the services their plans offer. "The Health Plan Guide" includes information on consumer satisfaction in health plans, and tips on how women can familiarize themselves with their plan's policies ranging from prescription drugs to reimbursement to co-payment, and many others. It also offers descriptions of plan benefits, a list of available services that can help improve family health, and tips on how to choose a primary health care provider.
"The Health Plan Guide" outlines women's rights as health plan enrollees. It addresses how to collect payment for covered services, appeal plan decisions, coordinate benefits and extend insurance coverage. The Guide also includes information on federal legislation designed to help consumers, such as the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. The Guide also directs women to resources that provide even more information on their rights, as well as organizations that monitor or accredit managed care plans.
"The Health Plan Guide for Women: How to Shop for a Plan & Get the Most Value" is free. Women can order it by logging onto http://www.healthplanguides.com and requesting copies.
The Jacobs Institute of Women's Health is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the knowledge, practice and understanding of women's health by making America's health care system work better for women. For the next few years, the Jacobs Institute is placing an emphasis on managed care, heart disease and menopause - cutting edge issues that affect women's health and lives.
The National Partnership for Women & Families is a non-profit, non- partisan advocacy group dedicated to promoting fairness in the workplace, quality health care and policies that help Americans balance the demands of work and family.
Source: PR Newswire
