What characterizes indemnity insurance?

Indemnity insurance is characterized by allowing policyholders to have the freedom to choose their healthcare providers and is primarily focused on reimbursing patients based on the actual fees charged by physicians for their services. This means that when an individual seeks medical care, they can see any doctor or facility they wish, and they are subsequently reimbursed by the insurance company according to the fees that have been billed.

This model encourages a broader selection of health care professionals, as it does not restrict patients to a network. The reimbursement structure typically means that patients might pay upfront for services and then submit claims to their insurance for repayment based on the costs incurred.

The other options describe features that are not typical of indemnity insurance. For instance, low premiums paired with high out-of-pocket costs might apply to some types of health insurance but do not uniquely define indemnity plans. Requiring referrals for specialty services is a characteristic of managed care plans, such as HMOs, and limiting coverage to in-network providers is also a feature of these types of plans, rather than indemnity insurance. Thus, the focus on fee-for-service reimbursement makes option B the best representation of indemnity insurance characteristics.