Available HMO and PPO Insurance Choices for you From Blue Cross Blue Shield of California

The Blue Cross Blue Shield California health plan options have expanded until quite a large number of options exist for people in virtually any situation. When you are ready to choose your insurance plan, deciding on your essentials first is always wise. For example, you’ll want to ask yourself if you need to have unlimited medical visits, or if you want to have coverage that is really just there for emergencies only.

You’ll also want to consider whether you want an HMO or a PPO Blue Cross Blue Shield of California plan. Decide how much you can allocate for monthly insurance premiums, and how prepared you would be for out-of-pocket medical expenses, as you make your decision between HMO and PPO plans.

HMO Options to Consider

With the HMO plans, you will be paying a co-payment each time you visit the doctor or every time you have a hospital stay, and you will normally not have to meet a deductible, so you can expect to have lower out-of-pocket expenses with HMO plans. The HMO plans generally limit users to a specific network of physicians, but the networks offer very diverse choices in doctors. For example, the current network size for the entire Anthem Blue Cross is 37,000 physicians, and around 20,000 of those are in the Anthem Blue Cross California network. Both Blue Cross and Blue Shield have HMO plans. Blue Shield is also a very large HMO provider in the state of California, and now has more than 1.2 million HMO plan members.

The Blue Cross Blue Shield of California HMO plans include the Individual HMO plan, which has a very high level of HMO services, allowing limitless doctor visits and access to the nationwide Blue Cross network rather than only the California Blue Cross network, and the Select HMO plan, which has lower co-payments and is priced for those who have less money to put toward health insurance plans and those who don’t need to visit the doctor very often but still wish to have emergency coverage.

PPO Options to Consider

Some Blue Cross Blue Shield of California clients prefer PPO plans, because they can have a wider range of choices when it comes to their medical care. PPO networks are generally larger than HMO networks, but the cost of PPO plans is generally higher and some PPO plans require you to meet a specified deductible before plan benefits begin.

Some PPO plans with Blue Shield of California, such as the Shield Secure Plus plan, give you extensive benefits even before you meet your plan deductible, and then allow frequent doctor visits if needed. Plans like the Anthem Blue Cross CoreGuard Plus Plan are meant for people who are looking for emergency care and basic routine care, but who don’t have a need to seek medical care very often under normal circumstances.

The ClearProtectionSM Plus from Anthem Blue Cross and the Shield Wise PPO plans are similar in that they allow for two doctor visits each year at a specified co-payment before you must start working toward meeting the deductible, so people who want the lower-cost benefits of a deductible plan while still being able to see the doctor for routine care may find either of these plans a good option to consider.

Your Plan Choice

Your health plan choice should be decided only after you look into your options thoroughly so that you can select the one that is ideal for your situation. Whether it is major medical care you’re seeking or you just want that temporary emergency coverage, Blue Cross Blue Shield of California has choices for everyone.