Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.
About Health Insurance
Health insurance helps protect you from high medical care costs. It is a contract between you and your insurance company. You buy a plan or policy, and the company agrees to pay part of your expenses when you need medical care.
Many people in the United States get a health insurance policy through their employers. In most cases, the employer helps pay for that insurance. Insurance through employers is often with a managed care plan. These plans contract with health care providers and medical facilities to provide care for members at reduced costs. You can also purchase health insurance on your own.
People who meet certain requirements can qualify for government health insurance, such as Medicare and Medicaid. The Affordable Care Act expands health insurance coverage for many people in the U.S.
It sits within Health System.
When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.
Research on Health Insurance
99 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.
What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.
Research currently under way
- The Effect of Grocery Support Dose on Food Insecurity and Disease Control Among Covered California Members With Diabetes or HypertensionUniversity of California, San Francisco
- Improving Health Insurance Literacy Among Young Adult Cancer SurvivorsUniversity of Utah
- Adult Disease Risk Prediction Using Wearables, Hearing, and Health DataNational Health Research Institutes, Taiwan
- Impact of Vaccine Funding by the National Health Insurance on Vaccination Coverage Among Patients Targeted by Current Vaccination Recommendations and Followed in Outpatient ConsultationsAssistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris
- iHERO Study: Insurance, Health and Economic Resources Online for Emerging Adults With Type 1 DiabetesUniversity Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center
- Achieving Chronic Care equiTy by leVeraging the Telehealth EcosystemUniversity of California, San Francisco
Research already completed
- Impact of Outreach on Medicaid EnrollmentUniversity of Wisconsin, Madison
- A Study to Learn About Effects of Living With COVID-19 and the Use of the Medicines Nirmatrelvir-Ritonavir in Treating COVID-19.Pfizer
- Use of the French Healthcare Insurance DatabaseCentre Hospitalier Universitaire, Amiens
- Does the National Health Insurance Card Allow us to Predict Antibiotic Resistance?University Hospital, Rouen
- Golimumab Safety and Surveillance Program Using the Ingenix NHI DatabaseJanssen Biotech, Inc.
- Ustekinumab Safety and Surveillance Program Using the Ingenix NHI DatabaseJanssen Biotech, Inc.
Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.
Where to read more
Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.
Start Here
- How to Shop for Health InsuranceNemours Foundation
- Need Health Insurance?Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
- Tips About the Health Insurance MarketplaceCenters for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Related Issues
- How to Get Help with Medical ExpensesGeneral Services Administration
- Medical Bill RightsCenters for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Statistics and Research
- Health Insurance DataBureau of the Census
- Key Facts about the Uninsured PopulationKFF
Medical subject headings
Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Insurance, Health. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.
This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Health Insurance, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.