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Insurance Overview
Health
insurance is a valuable product which many people obtain
either through a benefit program from their employer, an
entitlement program from the government, or purchase
directly from a plan to cover their individual insurance
requirements.
Unfortunately
for all its value, health insurance is also extremely
complicated. While we will always try to do whatever we
can to help you with any insurance issue, ultimately,
health insurance is a contract between you as a patient
and the insurance company which provides your benefit
package.
Each
insurance company has many different kinds of plans with
many different benefit levels. Blue Cross Blue Shield
for example has over 1,000 different plans each
providing patients with different levels of coverage and
benefits. It is therefore impossible for our office to
know what your individual coverage provides and what
benefits are and are not provided as part of your plan.
The best source for this information is the insurance
company themselves. Each company places a phone number
on your insurance card for patients to contact them
directly with any questions. That phone number or the
company’s web site is often your best place to turn for
coverage or benefit questions.
Some
insurance companies require that you have a referral in
order to visit a specialist. All of the physicians in
our group are considered specialists by insurance
companies. Therefore, if your plan requires a referral
in order to see a specialist it is important that you
contact your primary care physician to obtain the
referral prior to scheduling an appointment with our
office. Please see the Referrals and Authorizations
section for additional information.
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