Understanding Health Insurance:

What is in- and out-of-network?

In-network health care providers have agreements with your insurance carrier and will typically offer services at a set rate. Out-of-network providers do not.

Most health insurance carriers have agreements with specific health care providers or groups of health care providers to offer services to their members at a set rate. Those health care providers are referred to as “in network.” Some insurance plans will require you to use in-network providers to get special rates for services. If you use providers that are not part of the carrier’s network, they are called “out of network” and you will usually have to pay more for their services.