What Is the Difference Between an HMO & PPO?

Video Transcript

"Hello my name is Vic Schumacher. The company is HPE Financial Services. The question we have today is what is the difference between an HMO and a PPO? This insurance organization and this industry has acronyms that don't really make an awful lot of difference as to how people function. A PPO stands for preferred provider network and an HMO stands for health maintenance organization. The difference between the two is they are both organizations, one the organization pays the doctors ahead of time and those doctors wait for you to walk in the door, that would be an HMO. The PPO is that this organization does not prepay the doctors ahead of time. These doctors can work with the private sector as well. But no matter which one you work with, they will give you a discounted price. The idea is, one organization will try to promote you to work with them only, the other approach is that the organization gives you a little more flexibility. The PPO has more flexibility than the HMO but there is no real big difference as far as the type of care that is done and that's the important thing. Find a doctor that you enjoy working with and stick with that, whether it's an HMO or a PPO. My name is Vic Schumacher; the company is HPE Financial Services, helping people everyday."