Insurance Basics: Home
Doctors and insurers use standard codes for each medical service or supply. That helps them communicate about treatments and payments clearly.
Healthcare proxies and advance healthcare directives can help you plan your care if you ever lose the ability to communicate clearly.
Health plans negotiate the price of medical services with certain doctors, hospitals, labs and other providers.
To look up the estimated costs for behavioral health services (including mental health and alcohol and/or drug services), go to our home page, fairhealthconsumer.org, and click on Medical and Hospital Costs.
If you have an ongoing illness or need a complicated procedure, it’s a good idea to get an FH Total Treatment Cost estimate.
New rules have expanded access to two types of limited health insurance plans. They are association health plans (AHPs) and short-term, limited duration (STLD) health plans. Because they don’t have to follow the Affordable Care Act, these plans can cost less than regular health plans. But, they have limitations you should know.
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