You should look at your health care requirements and your budget before getting your Anthem health insurance policy. Assuming you're getting an Individuals plan, you should first decide on the range of coverage and benefits that you might need when you start college. In general, a PPO (Preferred Provider Organization) health plan will cost less per month but will have higher deductibles and co-pays. The same goes with an Anthem health insurance PPO plan. What's good about PPO is that you're able to use any facility or doctor of your choice anytime. You don't need a referral to see out-of-network specialists. A PPO plan is also ideal if you don't want a certain organization making decisions on which doctors you have to see or which hospitals you can go to. An HMO (Health Maintenance Organization) plan, on the other hand, will have lower deductibles and co-pays but will cost more per month. With an HMO health plan, you can only go to in-network doctors and hospitals. You will also have to get a referral from an in-network physician before you can see an out-of-network specialist. If you're going for regular doctor visits, then the type of Anthem health insurance you might want to choose is the HMO plan. But if you are generally healthy and don't necessarily have to visit the doctor often, it might be more cost effective to get a PPO plan. If you're a student and moving to another state for college, the PPO plan might be ideal because you'll have access to hospitals and doctors nationwide through the Blue Card network of providers. - June 26, 2009 @ 10:16 am