Contact Us

If you still have questions or prefer to get help directly from an agent, please submit a request.
We’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

Please fill out the contact form below and we will reply as soon as possible.

  • Courses
  • Tutoring
  • Home
  • Law, Transactions, & Risk Management
  • Insurance & Risk Management

Point of Service Plan - Explained

What is a Point of Service Plan?

Written by Jason Gordon

Updated at September 27th, 2021

Contact Us

If you still have questions or prefer to get help directly from an agent, please submit a request.
We’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

Please fill out the contact form below and we will reply as soon as possible.

  • Marketing, Advertising, Sales & PR
    Principles of Marketing Sales Advertising Public Relations SEO, Social Media, Direct Marketing
  • Accounting, Taxation, and Reporting
    Managerial & Financial Accounting & Reporting Business Taxation
  • Professionalism & Career Development
  • Law, Transactions, & Risk Management
    Government, Legal System, Administrative Law, & Constitutional Law Legal Disputes - Civil & Criminal Law Agency Law HR, Employment, Labor, & Discrimination Business Entities, Corporate Governance & Ownership Business Transactions, Antitrust, & Securities Law Real Estate, Personal, & Intellectual Property Commercial Law: Contract, Payments, Security Interests, & Bankruptcy Consumer Protection Insurance & Risk Management Immigration Law Environmental Protection Law Inheritance, Estates, and Trusts
  • Business Management & Operations
    Operations, Project, & Supply Chain Management Strategy, Entrepreneurship, & Innovation Business Ethics & Social Responsibility Global Business, International Law & Relations Business Communications & Negotiation Management, Leadership, & Organizational Behavior
  • Economics, Finance, & Analytics
    Economic Analysis & Monetary Policy Research, Quantitative Analysis, & Decision Science Investments, Trading, and Financial Markets Banking, Lending, and Credit Industry Business Finance, Personal Finance, and Valuation Principles
  • Courses
+ More
Back To: INSURANCE & RISK MANAGEMENT

What is a Point-of-Service Plan?

A point-of-service (POS) is an organized health care plan that offers varieties of benefits to policyholders. A POS is health insurance that lowers medical costs for policyholders. This type of health plan combines the features of the Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) and the Preferred Provider Organization (PPO), this is why POS is regarded as a hybrid of HMO and PPO.

How Does a Point-of-Service Plan Work?

Basically, a point-of-service plan allows a policyholder to pay less when accessing medical care from providers who are in the plan's network. In a POS health plan, a policyholder is required to select an in-network doctor or physician as their primary care provider. This health plan also permits policyholders to designate a primary care doctor outside of the network, this is why a POS plan is considered a hybrid of HMO and PPO. Relating to the obligations and expenses incurred by the POS plan and the policyholder in this type of health insurance plan, it is important to know that policyholders pay more when they use in-network services, while the POS plan pays more when out-of-network services are used. In either of the services, however, the policyholder will make payments. A major advantage of a POS plan is that it offers a holistic coverage as policyholders who travel frequently are catered for regardless of their location.

The Relative Unpopularity of Point-of-Service Plans

Despite the benefits that the point-of-service plan offers, it remains unpopular. POS plan only holds a tiny share of the health insurance market as the majority of the people that seek health insurance plans go for either HMO or PPO plans, while in the actual sense, the POS plan is a hybrid of HMO and PPO plans. One major reason for the unpopularity of the POS plan in the market is the low awareness about it. This plan is not frequently advertised, unlike other plans. Aside from poor marketing, the costs of POS their many individuals into confusion as it is difficult to pinpoint what the prices are.

Related Topics

  • Health insurance
  • Health Maintenance Organization
  • Capitated Contract
  • Point of Service Plan
  • Children's Health Insurance Program

Academic Research


point of service plan

Was this article helpful?

Yes
No

Related Articles

  • Insurance Regulatory Information System - Explained
  • Anti-stacking Provisions (Insurance) - Explained
  • Asset Protection - Explained
  • Above Ground Risk - Explained



©2011-2023. The Business Professor, LLC.
  • Privacy

  • Questions

Definition by Author

0
0
Expand