HMO

A Health Maintenance Organization is a form of managed care.  HMOs are more driven toward prepaid health maintenance.  You will typically pay more in premium for this type of plan.  In return you will receive free or low cost maintenance visits.  An HMO usually allows you to use only the doctors / hospitals within the network.  If you leave the network to see a doctor, you will typically have to pay the full price of the out of network doctor / hospital visit.  In some cases your doctor may refer you out of the network to see a doctor outside of the HMO, if this were to happen, the insurance company will typically pick up some of the cost.  An HMO gives you the least amount of freedom to choose doctors or hospitals.  Please refer to the policy for details, as each plan may differ.