Point of Service (POS) Plan

A POS (Point of Service) is a managed healthcare plan that offers more flexibilities than HMO. This plan is sometime known as hybrid healthcare plan as it contains aspects of both HMO and PPS plans.

This plan is designed to provide effective and efficient patient service at a low cost. In POS healthcare plan, patient first visit network of preferred providers and then, on referral may seek other provider, if deemed necessary.

A primary physician may refer to other physician or a specialist, which may or may not be from the network of preferred provider. If patient visits specialist without the referral of primary physician,he does not get the coverage from the health insurance provider. Such patients have to bear the cost themselves.

POS plan is bit expensive than HMO plan due to restrictive network and less number of options associated with the later.

There are certain points that should be considered while choosing a plan. Your needs, your health, the benefits offered etc play a major role.