Your Pay Stub Deducts Money For Fica. What Does This Mean?

Health care services and fees can vary greatly. There are many plans out there, but we'll narrow them down to two main types: fee-for-service plans and managed health care plans.

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A fee-for-service plan is what most Americans think of as traditional health insurance. The deductibles and co-pays for this type of plan are generally higher than those of a managed health care provider. These fees can add up over the course of a year, but they also buy more options. Under a fee-for-service plan, you're free to choose your own doctors, usually don't need a referral to see a specialist, and can choose your hospital.

These types of plans usually have out-of-pocket expense caps. Once you reach the cap, a basic plan will cover doctor's visits and hospital stays, along with all the attendant expenses, like X-rays, medications, treatments and surgery. Major plans pick up where basic plans leave off -- they are usually best for those with yearly medical bills exceeding $250,000.

If you receive health insurance through your employer, it's most likely a managed health care plan. Managed care plans include health maintenance organizations (HMOs), preferred provider organizations (PPOs) and point-of-service plans (POS). A managed health care plan is the best way for insurance providers to control their costs, so they can offer much lower co-pays and deductibles.

Of the three main types of managed health care plans, HMOs are by far the cheapest and most restrictive. An HMO arranges a provider network by gathering contractual agreements with specialists, general practitioners, hospitals and other health care professionals -- you can receive treatment from this network alone. You have to choose a primary care physician (PCP) who authorizes and coordinates your health care needs by working within the network. As long as you stay within this network, co-payments and deductibles are kept to a bare minimum.

A PPO operates under the same guidelines as an HMO, but it casts a much wider net, and you don't have a PCP acting as an intermediary for your health care. With a PPO, you can choose from within the network of providers for smaller co-pays and deductibles, or pick an out-of-network provider for a substantially higher price.

A POS plan is a fusion of these two managed health care models. It is sometimes referred to as an "open-ended HMO" because you can choose either the HMO or PPO model whenever you need health care. Because of this, your co-pays and deductibles can vary from treatment to treatment, doctor to doctor and month to month.

For more information about co-pays and deductibles, check out the links on the next page.