Hassle-Free Health Coverage: Choosing a Doctor

An indemnity insurance plan will usually require you to choose a primary care physician, if only to give the company a recognizable name to use when reviewing medical bills.

This selection is much less critical than choosing a primary physician under a managed care plan. For one thing, you can choose any physician you wish and any health services to use. You can also change "your doctor" any time you want-you just have to let the insurance company know. (And, frankly, you don't even need to do that too scrupulously.)

The same rule applies to seeing specialists. An indemnity plan allows you to go to any specialist whenever you prefer to-without having to get a referral from your primary care physician.

An indemnity plan puts no limit on doctor visits, aside from your own financial well-being. However, certain types of visits may not be covered

under an indemnity plan (i.e., mental health). you will have to bear the brunt of the costs.

This is all different from managed care plans, in which you choose a primary care physician from a list of doctors that your health plan has contracted with to provide health services. With an HMO, your primary care physician is your primary contact for all health services. Instead of having a choice, primary care doctor coordinates the services-provided by specialists and others-that you will receive.