The time to find out what rules your plan has on hospital care is before you need it.

Planned Hospitalizations

Unless it is a medical emergency, your health plan or primary care doctor will probably have to give advance approval (preadmission certification) for you to go to the hospital. Otherwise, the cost of your hospital care may not be covered. Ask these questions:

• What hospitals are part of the plan network?
  
• Is there a limit on how long I can stay in the hospital?
  
• Who decides when I am to be discharged?
  
• Will needed followup care, such as nursing home or home health care, be covered by the plan?
  
• If I have a serious medical problem, will the plan provide someone to oversee care and make sure my needs are met?

Ask how your plan handles getting a second doctor's opinion on whether surgery or another treatment is needed. Are second opinions encouraged or required? Who pays?

Emergency or Urgent Care

If you have a true medical emergency, you should go to the nearest hospital as fast as possible. It is important for you to know what kind of medical problems are defined as emergencies and how to arrange for ambulance service, if needed. Most plans must be told within a certain time after emergency admission to a hospital. If the hospital is not part of the plan network, you may be transferred to a network hospital when your condition is stable. Ask these questions: