Health insurers want to keep costs down, and you want to keep your health up. Sometimes these two agendas clash, and it can feel like your insurer doesn't have your best interests in mind. However, you can make the most of your health insurance by understanding the options available to you and choosing a plan that best suits your needs. We'll show you how.

Alphabet Soup: HMOs, PPOs and More
With so many varieties of health insurance out there, sorting through the acronyms, options, restrictions and requirements can be mind boggling. Two major categories of health plans hold the field - indemnity and managed care - but even then the lines between them are beginning to blur.

• Indemnity Insurance
  Old-school health insurance is indemnity insurance, a fee-for-service plan where you can visit any doctor, anywhere, for any reason. Of course, there's a price for such whimsy. Indemnity insurance pays only part of your medical bills - you are on the hook for the  rest. You must spend a certain amount each year, your deductible, before your plan starts paying, at which point the plan usually covers 60-80% of your expenses.
  
  Indemnity insurance was once the most common insurance. But over the past decade, rising healthcare costs have translated into rising deductibles, and indemnity plans have fallen out of favor. (To learn more, read Understand Your Insurance Contract.)
  
  
• Health Maintenance Organizations
  With fees for indemnity insurance taking a bigger bite out of consumer wallets, a new system emerged to control costs: the health maintenance organization (HMO). HMOs sign contracts with specific doctors and hospitals, and that group becomes the plan's network.
  
  With an HMO, you may have no deductible and your co-payments are usually low. You pay a monthly premium and your HMO covers doctor visits, hospital stays, emergency care, lab tests, X-rays and therapy. You choose a primary care physician who oversees your medical care, but you must get a referral from your doctor to see a specialist. You cannot visit a doctor or hospital outside of your network if you want your insurance to cover the visit.
  
  This is the simplest and cheapest form of insurance, and it most benefits those who are healthy and not supporting anyone but themselves. HMOs are meant to provide preventive care: you visit your primary care provider regularly, so you can nip any health problems in the bud and thus avoid the expense of specialists.
  
  
• Preferred Provider Organizations
  Preferred provider organizations (PPOs) combine HMOs and indemnity plans. You can visit your primary care provider and your plan should pay for your total visit. Or, you can visit a specialist - within the network, but without a referral - and your plan should pay at least part of your bill.  
  
  
• Point of Service Plans  
  A mix of indemnity insurance, HMOs and PPOs, is the point of service (POS) plan, which lets you choose from three tiers of service. You can see your HMO doctor, and your insurance picks up the tab. Or, you can see a doctor within the PPO network and make a co-payment. Finally, you can visit a doctor outside the network, and after you meet your deductible, the plan will pay a share of the expense.
  
  With a POS plan, you get the savings of managed care with the control of an indemnity plan. But because you make your own choices, you need to be savvy about the financial consequences of those choices.
  
  
• Consumer-Driven Health Plans
  In the land of the consumer-driven health plan (CDHP), high-deductible health insurance joins forces with a health savings account (HSA). This type of policy is also sometimes referred to as a high-deductible health plan, or HDHP. A CDHP is almost like a return to the whimsical days of indemnity insurance: you can usually see any doctor you like and visit any hospital.
  
  An HSA is a tax-free savings account where you set aside money for future medical care. A high-deductible health plan gives you comprehensive coverage, but you must pay out-of-pocket until you reach your deductible. (To learn more about HSAs, see Fighting The High Costs Of Healthcare and Health-y Savings Accounts.)
  
  The savings you get with a CDHP is that you pay low monthly premiums because you are setting aside money in your HSA. The problem here is that it can take a few years to build up your HSA. If you get sick, you could have trouble paying for medical care. The CDHP can be a good option if you're healthy or you've already stashed some cash for medical expenses. (For further reading, see Build Yourself An Emergency Fund.)