Health insurance is a kind of insurance wherein the insurance company pays the medical costs of the insured individual if the individual in question falls ill due to covered causes, or due to accidents. The insurer may be a private organization or a government agency. The major purpose of health insurance is to cover medical expenses and any lost income while the individual is not well and unable to function normally.
There are different types of health insurance policies. The two most common ones are major medical and disability insurance. A major medical health insurance policy provides benefits for sickness or injury, irrespective of whether the care is provided at a doctor’s office, clinic or hospital. The types of sickness and injury covered are typically broad, although there are always limitations that you may want to discuss with your agent prior to purchasing the coverage. Major medical policies normally have an annual deductible and a lifetime maximum amount of benefits that will be paid.
Even if you are covered by a group insurance at work, you might consider taking an individual policy if you may change jobs soon, or if certain benefits that are not provided in the group policy.
A deductible is an annual amount that you will have to pay per insured person, before the insurance company begins to pay on your bills. There is an upper limit for the maximum amount of deductibles you will have to pay in a given year.
In a health policy, coinsurance refers to the percentage of the medical bills that the insured individual will have to pay after the deductible is met. Usually the health policy would have a provision called a ’stop-loss’ – this is the maximum amount you will have to pay for covered medical bills.
By: Chris Tolamalu
Posts Tagged ‘Accidents’
Health Insurance 101
April 25th, 2010Low Income Health Insurance
February 12th, 2010
Many people do not fully understand that even though they are perfectly healthy, they still need health coverage. Accidents happen and they cannot be planned for. If you are involved in an accident and have to go to the emergency room you are going to run up quite a tab before you are done. Having health insurance will give you the peace of mind to and leave you stress free in this situation. There are options for low income health insurance as well and here are just a few.
With health insurance you will be protected from diseases, infections, sickness, and from accidents. You will be able to see your doctor before certain health concerns arise and be treated early enough to make sure that you stay healthy. The cost of all of this would make just about any normal family go broke if they did not have health coverage.
The cost of prescriptions have risen, but there are some pharmacies that offer programs for those that do not make a lot of money, to get prescriptions for very cheap. Check with your pharmacy to see if the offer such a program and if so, ask for an application. If you fall into the low income bracket, then you also need to check with your local and state organizations because they often have programs to help low income families with prescriptions and health coverage.
You will have to submit an application to most of the state aid organizations so that they will be aware of your financial situation. There are a lot of people that would never think they would qualify for such programs, but there are many individuals that will qualify. This can give you what you need to live a stress free life, at least when it comes to your health and the health of your family.
There are also many sites on the internet that offer low income health insurance policies. You can search around and compare the rates to see what is out there and what you might qualify for. The last option would be to check with your local Catholic church because they often offer some type of help when it comes to medical expenses and health coverage.
By: Benjamin Robert Ehinger
