Insurance Basics: Home

Palliative Care and Shared Decision Making

Palliative care is medical care that tries to relieve discomfort and stress for people with serious illnesses. It focuses on improving quality of life for patients and their families. Palliative care doesn’t try to cure the illness.

Palliative Care and Shared Decision Making
Protections for New York Consumers: Understanding Your Out-of-Pocket Costs

By law, consumers living in New York State have certain protections when shopping for and using their health insurance. Your insurer must provide up-to-date information about who is in your network.

Protections for New York Consumers: Understanding Your Out-of-Pocket Costs
Cost Sharing

Health insurance protects you from paying the full cost of your care. But, you will likely still have to pay some money out of your pocket. Almost all plans call for “cost sharing”. That means your insurer pays for part of your care, and you pay for part.

Flexible Spending Plans

Flexible spending plans let you set aside money from your paycheck. You can use it to pay for care before meeting your deductible, and for copays and coinsurance afterward.

Experimental Treatments and Clinical Trials

Most health plans don´t cover treatments they regard as “experimental”. Sometimes, they may deny a claim for such a treatment.

Mental and Emotional Health

Our mental and emotional health is a vital part of our well-being. If we don´t get the help we need, mental and emotional health problems can hurt our relationships with our family and friends, our jobs and even our communities.