Medical insurance

Nowadays, insurance companies provide many insurance schemes based on many different possibilities that may seem humorous to most people. Insurance such as earthquake insurance may seem quite odd in a location that has never faced an earthquake! For individuals living alone, life insurance may also seem excessive to them. However, an insurance that is a must for everyone is medical insurance.

In very simple terms, medical insurance is only a guarantee that the insurance firm will cover all the cost that are covered in the case of any medical requirements, from trips to the hospital to major surgeries, in exchange for regular payments of the firm’s stated monthly premiums. Medical insurance is especially crucial when emergencies like accidents, or sudden life-threatening situation arises, and the patients are not fully prepared to meet the medical bills. It is not surprising that medical bills are extremely high especially in the Western countries like US, and it is generally suggested that everyone should apply for medical insurance. It is also noteworthy that emergency treatments might have to be immediately paid before treatment starts and often times, the patients are not prepared. Medical insurances are thus one of the most important elements in the social life to ensure maximum health security, and to ensure that patients don’t have to deplete their life savings by spending only a few nights in the hospital over any single unfortunate event.

There are many different types of medical insurance available and they provide different benefits. They are usually differed as everyone is not the same and they may find an insurance scheme which is more beneficial for them rather than others. Fee-For-Service is a medical insurance scheme where an individual must pay an annual deductible prior to being eligible for any form of service from the insurance firms. Firms may also charge a 20% co-payment along with the primary payment. The downside of this particular medical insurance scheme is that the person being insured is likely to be charged more than required as insurance firms charge around 80% of the general cost of any medical service. However, this scheme is able to provide greater flexibility when compared to other medical insurance policies.

There are many other medical insurance schemes, most of them being much cheaper than the Fee-For-Service plan. For example, the HMO scheme will cost less than a PPO scheme, though they will provide less. In an HMO, the person can only receive payments from insurance firms if the hospital or doctor falls under the network of that specific insurance firm. But the individual is also not required to pay any annual deductibles and the co-payments are usually much less. For individuals who generally feel they are healthy and are quite unlikely to fall prey to any major illnesses, they can opt for Limited Benefit Programs, which cost much lower than other schemes and the insured person is not stuck paying for something they don’t actually need.

Before opting for any specific insurance scheme, it is always better to look around and go through different insurance policies from different firms before investing in one of them. It always hurts when a person finds out that they have paid more when there was a cheaper alternate. The internet is also able to provide excellent figures for those seeking medical insurance at a lower rate. Also, there are many sites that are able to provide comparisons between two or three insurance schemes selected by the individual. This will allow them to understand the costs and benefits of the schemes and make a better and well informed decision.

Last updated on Sep 5th, 2010 and filed under Health Insurance. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

1 Response for “Medical insurance”

  1. I am just in fact becoming sick and tired of needing to deal with insurance coverage. Now i’m tempted by the concept of dropping my insurance policy and actively playing the odds

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