HMOs (health maintenance organizations) and PPOs (preferred provider organizations) are types of health plans.

HMOs and PPOs both have networks. A network is a group of doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers who serve the people enrolled in a health plan. HMOs and PPOs have different rules about how you use the network. The doctors and hospitals you want to use may be in more than one network, or more than one plan.

When choosing a plan, there are two important questions about networks:

• Which providers are in the network?
• What rules does the plan have about seeing providers outside the network?

Remember, your doctor may be in more than one network or more than one health plan.