This information was adapted from information provided by The Hospital Association of Pennsylvania. In all likelihood, the health insurance plans available to you differ in the services they cover. By reading each plan's subscriber agreement or membership handbook carefully, you'll be able to identify the plan that offers the right combination of services for your needs. Here are some important questions to consider when reviewing the services covered. If there are terms that you would like defined in more detail, check our glossary .
Preventive care is routine care.
Examples of preventive care include well-baby checkups, immunization and booster shots, annual gynecological exams, physicals and mammograms. Pennsylvania law requires all individual and group health plans to pay for childhood immunizations, annual gynecologic exams and routine pap smears. Although these services must be paid for, some traditional health plans may not pay for the office visit to receive these services. Most managed care plans pay for both the services and the office visit, but require you to pay a small co-payment. Urgent care is defined differently from emergency care.