How Do I Know If My Health Care Provider is in My Network

It is not very difficult to make sure that your doctor is in your network (as described by your health insurance company), but sometimes a doctors office will trick, or shall I say not be completely honest, when it comes to whether they are in network or out of network.

When you call a health care provider to ask if they are in your network be sure to ask two things. Are they in network for your health insurance company and (most importantly) for the particular plan you have with that company. Let me explain what I mean by that last part. Let's pretend like we have two different plans (Plan A and Plan B) from Company C. Despite the fact that both plans come from Company C, Plan A may have a different set of in network providers when compared to Plan B. Like I said that seems to be very rare.

A lot of times when people call a prospective health care provider all they may ask is whether or not that provider will accept their health insurance. Remember what I said about tricking you (not being completely honest). Some health care providers (I know it is hard to believe) will say "Yes, of course we accept that health insurance." The problem is that provider may accept your insurance but that does not necessarily mean that said provider is in your network.

Of course you can always get online and look up which providers are in network. That is probably the easiest and quickest way but I would still encourage you to call the provider before you go since the online information may not be up to date.

So here is what you need to remember: If you want to make certain that the health care provider you have chosen is in your network the best thing to do is call them and ask not if they will accept your insurance but rather are than an in network provider for your type of insurance.

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