Whois & Analysis for healthspring.com

Medicare Advantage is a type of United States health insurance program within Part C of Medicare.

Medicare Advantage plans provide a managed health care plan (typically a health maintenance organization (HMO) but also often a preferred provider organization (PPO) or another type of managed care arrangement) that is paid based on a monthly capitated fee.

This Part of Medicare provides beneficiaries an alternative to "Original Medicare" Parts A and B Medicare, which provides insurance for the same medical services but pays providers a fee for service (FFS) directly rather than through managed care plans.

However a Medicare Advantage beneficiary must first sign up for both Parts A and B of Medicare.

All three of these Parts of Medicare -- A, B and C -- are administered by private insurance companies (often the same insurance companies).

Cigna is an American worldwide health services organization.

Its insurance subsidiaries are major providers of medical, dental, disability, life and accident insurance and related products and services, the majority of which are offered through employers and other groups (e.g. governmental and non-governmental organizations, unions and associations).

Cigna also offers Medicare and Medicaid products and health, life and accident insurance coverages primarily to individuals in the U.S. and selected international markets.

In addition to its ongoing operations described above, Cigna also has certain run-off operations, including a Run-off Reinsurance segment.

In the Phoenix, Arizona, metropolitan area, Cigna runs a full-service staff-model HMO (health maintenance organization) with satellite clinics throughout the region, known as the Cigna Medical Group.

Medigap (also Medicare supplement insurance or Medicare supplemental insurance) refers to various private health insurance plans sold to supplement Medicare in the United States.

Medigap insurance provides coverage for many of the co-pays and some of the co-insurance related to Medicare-covered hospital, skilled nursing facility, home health care, ambulance, durable medical equipment, and doctor charges.

Medigap's name is derived from the notion that it exists to cover the difference or "gap" between the expenses reimbursed to providers by Medicare Parts A and B for the preceding named services and the total amount allowed to be charged for those services by the United States Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

As of 2006, 18% of Medicare beneficiaries were covered by a Medigap policy.

Public-option Part C Medicare Advantage health plans and private employee retiree insurance provides a similar supplemental role for almost all other Medicare beneficiaries not dual eligible for Medicaid.

A prescription drug (also prescription medication or prescription medicine) is a pharmaceutical drug that legally requires a medical prescription to be dispensed.

In contrast, over-the-counter drugs can be obtained without a prescription.

The reason for this difference in substance control is the potential scope of misuse, from drug abuse to practicing medicine without a license and without sufficient education.

Different jurisdictions have different definitions of what constitutes a prescription drug.

Health insurance is insurance against the risk of incurring medical expenses among individuals.

By estimating the overall risk of health care and health system expenses, among a targeted group, an insurer can develop a routine finance structure, such as a monthly premium or payroll tax, to ensure that money is available to pay for the health care benefits specified in the insurance agreement.

The benefit is administered by a central organization such as a government agency, private business, or not-for-profit entity.

According to the Health Insurance Association of America, health insurance is defined as "coverage that provides for the payments of benefits as a result of sickness or injury.

It includes insurance for losses from accident, medical expense, disability, or accidental death and dismemberment" (pg.

225).