Insurance Basics: Home
Healthcare proxies and advance healthcare directives can help you plan your care if you ever lose the ability to communicate clearly.
Your health insurance ID card is your proof of insurance. You use it when you visit the doctor, hospital or other provider.
After you visit a provider, you may get a bill telling you how much you have to pay.
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."
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.
If you’re 65 or older, figuring out how Medicare works and when to sign up can be challenging. It can be hard to know what kind of coverage you’ll need. There are Part A, Part B, Part D, Medicare Advantage plans (Part C) and Medigap. There also are other complex terms to know. This article will cover the basics of what you need to know about Medicare.