Insurance Basics: Home
Whatever age you are when you retire, you have health insurance options.
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.
Suppose you receive care in a hospital that is in your health plan´s provider network. You may still get a bill from providers who treated you at the hospital but are not part of your plan´s network.
Being covered under two health plans doesn't mean the two plans will pay the same amount twice for the same doctor visit. Instead, the plans follow rules about which plan pays what, known as "coordination of benefits."
Receiving care from a provider in your health plan´s network usually costs you much less than going to an out-of-network provider.
Health insurance is important. It protects you against what can be the very high costs of healthcare. But, to get health insurance, you need to enroll, or sign up. And, in most cases, you can’t enroll in a health plan any time you want. You have to do it during certain times.