This is the traditional kind of health care policy. Health insurance companies pay fees for the services provided to the insured people covered by the policy. This type of health insurance offers the most choices of doctors and hospitals. You can choose any doctor you wish and change doctors any time. You can go to any hospital in any part of the country.

With fee-for-service health plans, the insurer pays only part of your doctor and hospital bills. You pay a monthly fee, called a premium.

A certain amount of money each year, known as the deductible, is paid for by you before the health insurance payments begin. In a typical plan, the deductible might be $250 for each person in your family, with a family deductible of $500 when at least two people in the family have reached the individual deductible. The deductible requirement applies each year of the health insurance policy. Also, not all health expenses you have count toward your deductible. Only those covered by the health insurance policy do. You need to check the health insurance policy to find out which ones are covered.