Every health plan must disclose specific information to consumers - members of a health plan and those people considering joining a plan. This consumer information will be provided in the plan´s member handbook, subscriber contract and member newsletters. Other information must also be provided at the request of a consumer. A partial list of the information that must be provided to all health plan members or those people thinking of joining a plan includes descriptions of:

• Plan benefits and coverage - the services the health plan will pay for and any limitations, such as dollar amounts, number of visits allowed, or any other limits.
• How the plan defines "medical necessity."
• Prior authorization requirements. The plan will probably have provisions relating to when you must get approval for some services before receiving those services.
• How the health plan pays health care providers for the services given to patients that are members of the plan.
• Member´s financial responsibilities - or what your costs are - including co-payments or deductibles, payments for charges that are above what the plan considers "usual and customary" and paying for services not covered by the plan or services received from a provider outside the plan´s network.
• Grievance procedures and appeals rights, including the plan´s toll-free number, the process for filing a complaint and how long it will take to receive an answer. (See the section on "grievances and appeals" for more details.)
• Procedures to select and change your primary care physician (PCP).
• List of providers in network, listed by specialty.
• Coverage for emergency services. (See the section on "emergency care" for more information.)

Upon request, a plan must provide members or those people thinking of joining a plan with the following (partial list):

• Information on consumer complaints.
• Confidentiality procedures.
• The ability to inspect the health plan´s prescription drug formulary.
• Description of procedures used to evaluate requests for experimental and investigational treatments.
• Hospital affiliations of individual physicians.
• Specific written treatment protocols for a particular disease or condition.