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Monday, December 29, 2008

Individuals Can Obtain Texas Health Insurance Employers

By Jordan FeRoss

With all the information available online and from insurers themselves, it can be confusing and overwhelming for individuals searching for health insurance in Texas. There are so many different plans and their wording is often quite complex, making it difficult to fully assess options and even more difficult to choose the one that will provide the best care at the most reasonable cost. This is true even when working with employer-sponsored health insurance in Texas.

If you are employed full-time, then check with your employer to see what kind of health insurance is available in Texas. Some employers don't even offer health plans to their employees because they think it would cost them too much to invest in. With group health insurance coverage, it's an easy process and you can choose the coverage that is most affordable for you.

Usually you can sign up for a health insurance plan in Texas as soon as you are hired in. New employees are usually given thirty days from their date of hire to get signed up. People that miss this opportunity often have to wait for the next open enrollment period to get health insurance. The open enrollment period usually occurs once a year and lasts for thirty days. This is also the time when employees who dislike their current plan are permitted to switch to a different carrier.

You may have a health insurance plan in Texas that will pay for your health services and later on submit a claim to get reimbursed by the health insurance plan. Just like any other plan, health insurance in Texas provides services that come from a network of medical providers. Not only that, you have a choice of preferred providers that are in the network of the specified health coverage.

These networks are beneficial for cost management but limit choice for health insurance in Texas as there are only certain doctors you can see and facilities you can use for procedures without incurring additional out-of-network expenses. As the insurer is not your choice, but your employers, you may find you don't have enough flexibility with their plan. This may be especially true if you have a doctor you really like who is not on their network. If this is the case, you are not required to accept your employers plan and can search for an individual plan. These are generally more expensive and require a deeper dive into your medical history but it is your choice.

Employers may limit the choices the employee has because of the high cost of providing insurance to employees. Just like everywhere else, health insurance costs in Texas go up each y year making it more difficult to provide coverage while keeping the company budget balanced. Larger companies of 50 employees full-time employees or more have different options than smaller companies with less than 50 full-time workers.

In addition to that, health insurance in Texas for employers is comprised of a managed care plan and an indemnity coverage health plan. A managed care plan means that you have to get medical services using a certain network of doctors and other medical personnel. An indemnity health plan is when you have to pay for medical services upfront and then submit claims to get reimbursed. So depending on the size of the employer, you may be looking at either one of these plans listed above. Just make sure that you have some type of health insurance coverage so that you won't be so much out of pocket for expenses.

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