Known officially in the state of Florida as Coventry Health Care, Vista is the private label HMO product which is probably considered by many Florida residents to be pound for pound the best insurance money can buy right now at at time when health care seems to be escalating in terms of price yet decreasing in terms of benefits. Normally plans like these are offered for large scale group employers and not to the public at large.
Although, the product is an HMO which means there is a certain level of freedom not at the insured members disposal which would be available under a PPO type setting, the trade off is better coverage and a much better price in respect to monthly premiums. In the new economy, this might not be considered such a bad trade off. With an HMO the insurance company pretty much dictates the level of care you have access to whereas with a PPO at first glance it appears you have more freedom. But that is not always the case.
For example with a PPO, if you want dental or vision, guess what this is extra and means you pay more these benefits. With an HMO product like Vista, these benefits are all inclusive and guess what? It is often a lot cheaper. So how can you get this type of coverage? Well, even though these benefits are normally available to groups or companies, unfortunately you have to go through a process called medical underwriting. Medical underwriting is the process in which an insurance carrier takes a retrospective review on your medical history to determine if you can or cannot be provided the insurance applied for.
Medical underwriting is something which is almost impossible to avoid when trying to obtain individual health insurance coverage. The process is the insurance carriers way of determining if the premium paid by the insured member will justify his or her cost in terms of medical expenditures. Even though the whole process might seem to be somewhat of a pain, it might be worth your time and money if one can actually qualify for the health plan.
Do your self a favor, if you feel like you are over spending on health care and want to see if you can get a shot at premium benefits at a fraction of what you are paying now try applying for this coverage. It wont hurt and you will probably reward your self many times over if you get accepted.