# 21 Health Insurance Acronyms Explained

Understanding healthcare language is hard enough without all those acronyms. We explain the alphabet soup here.

## Key takeaways

Health insurance folks are big fans of using acronyms. It's totally fine if you work in the industry, but for customers, it can sound like a whole lot of gibberish. We've put together a list of 21 acronyms and terms commonly used in health insurance to help you make sense of it all with super short explanations.

Looking for a deeper explanation? Try our [glossary](/content/glossary/index.html).

- **ABA -** Applied Behavior Analysis is a therapy used to help individuals with autism and other developmental disorders by focusing on behavior patterns to improve their social, communication, and learning skills.

- **ACA -** Affordable Care Act is also referred to by other names like Obamacare. It's the major healthcare legislation that created a federal health insurance marketplace.

- **ASC -** Ambulatory Surgery Center is a fancy way to say outpatient surgery center. These are medical facilities that offer less complicated surgeries and where you don't stay overnight.

- **ASD -** Autism Spectrum Disorder is a developmental condition that affects how people communicate, interact with others, and experience the world around them.

- **ED -** Emergency Department also known as ER or emergency room.

- **EHB -** Essential Health Benefits are a set of healthcare services and benefits that must be covered by insurance plans under the ACA. (There we go with another acronym!)

- **EPO -** Exclusive Provider Organization AKA a type of health plan.

- **ESI -** Employer-Sponsored Insurance or health insurance provided by the companies/employers.

- **FDA -** Food and Drug Administration is the U.S. government agency that monitors medicines (among other things.)

- **HHS -** Department of Health and Human Services is the U.S. government agency that oversees public health.

- **HIPAA -** Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is a law to ensure our health details remain private.

- **HMO -** Health Maintenance Organization AKA a type of health plan.

- **HRA -** Health Reimbursement Arrangement is a type of benefit that reimburses employees for qualified medical expenses.

- [**ICHRA**](/content/posts/guide-to-ichra/index.html) - Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement is what StretchDollar offers allowing employers to give pre-tax dollars to employees to purchase health insurance.

- **IOP -** Intensive Outpatient Program is a treatment program for mental health or substance use issues.

- **IRS -** Internal Revenue Service is the U.S. government agency responsible for taxes.

- **OOP -**"out-of-pocket," is the amount of money you have to pay from your own pocket for healthcare expenses that your insurance doesn't cover.

- **OTC -** Over-the-Counter refers to non-prescription medications and products.

- **PCP -** Primary Care Physician is your main doctor.

- **PPO -** Preferred Provider Organization AKA a type of health plan.

- **QHP -** Qualified Health Plan is a plan that meets the ACA requirements. (Ah, an acronym with an acronym.)

- **QLE -** Qualifying Life Events create an SPE (see acronym below) which allows you to purchase health insurance outside of the specified open enrollment period (Nov 1 - Dec 15.)

- **QSEHRA -** Qualified Small Employer Health Reimbursement Arrangement is like an ICHRA except there are limits on how much you can give an employee per year.

- **SPE -** Special Enrollment Period is the time frame when individuals can enroll or make changes to their health insurance plans due to a QLE.

Check out our [glossary](/content/glossary/index.html) for detailed definitions.