Medical insurance for truckers is not a luxury but a pillar of your economic foundation. Choosing the right plan begins with understanding the types available and the specific features offered by employers or through group plans available through trucker associations. Here's a primer:

• Indemnity Plans generally only pay for direct sickness or injury. The user has total control over the selection of hospitals and doctors; Indemnity Plans are expensive and only compensate for a portion of the bill, generally 80% of the approved value for a treatment.

• HMOs are the least expensive medical insurance to obtain. The HMO, or Health Maintenance Organization, contracts with health care professionals and facilities to provide the specified care. Generally a patient cannot seek care outside of the health care providers and or hospitals under contract with the HMO.

• Preferred Provider Organizations, or PPOs, are the middle ground for both cost and service. They are now commonly offered by mid-sized to large carriers. A PPO is a group of health care professionals and/or hospitals that contracts with an employer or insurance company to provide medical care to a specified group of potential patients. Often a user is compensated for up to 90 percent of charges at pre-selected facilities and with approved doctors, and about 60 percent of approved charges with those not participating.

Words of Caution

No matter what plan is chosen there is usually some out-of-pocket expense for the trucker. And in some cases those expenses can mount up quickly. Never ignore bills, assuming insurance companies will pay them. Medical insurance is often an agreement between you and the carrier for reimbursement of expenses; not a guarantee to the doctor or hospital for payment. Hospitals often send unpaid bills to a collection agency when they are 90-days past due and this could affect your credit rating and sometimes your job or your lease. If possible, work out a payment schedule with the doctor or hospital first as it will likely be more flexible than shifting the bill to a credit card if another medical problem causes financial stress.

Remember when you read your policy that the terms and phrases used were written by lawyers to protect the insurance company first and foremost. When reading over a policy pay particular attention to limitations or exceptions regarding on-the-job injuries. As a rule those accidents are not covered unless specifically included in the policy. There is a gray area between Workman's Comp and regular medical insurance especially for the self-employed.

A great Web site offering a wide variety of help in understanding, selecting and dealing with your insurance needs is www.healthinsurance.org.

If the Internet is not an option you can find similar help at major bookstores that carry Barron's Dictionary of Insurance Terms and the popular Insurance for Dummies, by Jack Hunglemann. Three good places to compare medical insurance options if you are not covered by group plans are OOIDA at (800) 444-5791, the National Association of Independent Truckers at (800) 821-8014 and Truckers Medical Insurance at (800) 444-0077.

Reading your insurance policy is like reading a map; time consuming but often worth the effort in saved miles and avoided penalties. And like a map the insurance policy only appears to set uniform guidelines while often creating unique interpretations dependant for every situation.