Traditional Health Coverage Plans

In traditional health coverage plans, the covered individual is generally allowed to receive services from the provider of their choice.  (This is in contrast to managed care plans, where the covered individual is generally required to use a defined network of doctors and other providers, and in return for 'staying in the network,' the covered individual typically pays less for health care than if they went outside the network.)

Types of traditiional health coverage plans are as follows:

-- Basic health insurance (hospital/surgical).  These plans provide benefits related to hospitalization costs and associated medical expenses of the covered individual. 

-- Major medical insurance plans.  These plans cover hospital services and other medical services occurring outside the hospital. 

-- Comprehensive health insurance.  These plans combine basic health insurance and major medical insurance in one health insurance plan. 

-- Hospital confinement indemnity insurance.  These plans provide a predetermined flat benefit amount for each day, week, or month that the covered individual is hospitalized, up to a designated number of days.

-- Disability income insurance.  These plans provide replacement income for a predetermined period of time for a covered individual who suffers a disability and cannot work.

-- Specified disease insurance policies.  These policies provide benefits for medical expenses associated with specific diseases named in the policy (e.g., cancer). 

-- Short-term or temporary health insurance.  These policies provide coverage that lasts only for a specified period of time.

-- Limited benefit health policies.  Minimum standards were established in Virginia to insure that individual accident and sickness insurance policies provide a minimum of basic benefits needed for health care.  A company may market an individual accident or sickness policy that does not meet these minimum benefit standards, as long as it discloses that the benefits are limited and describes, in detail, the limitations.     

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