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 ‘Health Insurance Policies’
Health Insurance 101
April 25th, 2010Medical Health Insurance
April 23rd, 2010
Choosing Health Insurance Policies
When it comes to health insurance, women have special needs. There are so many different health issues that women go through that it is important to find health insurance to cover all of them.
The first thing to look at is what your company offers. There are so many different options, but the two most common are fee-for-service and managed care. Find out which one is offered to you, and go from there. Different plans can have different providers and services, cost and quality of care.
* Fee-for-Service – In this plan, you go to the doctor of your choice, and they send a bill to the insurance company. You get billed for the rest. Usually, there is a flat fee per year that you must pay before the insurance company will start to cover expenses.
* Managed Care – This is the most common type of plan, and it is broken down into several different categories; Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO), Preferred Provider Organization (PPO), and Point of Service (POS). With HMOs, as long as you use a doctor or hospital in your network, your out of pocket costs should be minimal. With a PPO, although you might have a larger network from which to choose your doctor, your premium will be higher. With a POS, your plan is similar to a PPO, but your care will be managed by your Primary Care Physician.
Which one you pick will depend upon your health circumstances. For example, if you are pregnant, or plan to become pregnant, you might want to pick a health plan that covers pregnancy, to keep your out of pocket costs down. If you have cancer, you will want to pick one that has good doctors and hospitals in the network. Also, if you already have a doctor whom you love, you might want to make sure that you will be able to see them still with the new health insurance policy that you pick.
There are even a number of government-run resources for women without health insurance. There are community health centers, public hospitals, school-based center, public housing primary care centers, migrant health centers and special needs facilities. Other government sponsored programs include:
* Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, & Children (WIC).
* National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP).
* Maternal and Child Health Services.
* Indian Health Service (IHS).
* Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness (PATH).
One of the most difficult situations for women is when they make too much money for public government assistance, but not enough to pay for medical care or health insurance. In this case, they might be able to find temporary insurance through their state, or a low-cost health insurance option through a labor union, professional clubs or organization. There are also free clinics and prescription drug assistance. Women who are coping with cancer can find many government sponsored and volunteer organization, and the Ryan White CARE Act gives aid to women with HIV/AIDS who have little or no insurance, and a limited income.
By: Ryan Baba
Arizona Short-Term Health Insurance
March 22nd, 2010
Places like Arizona provide a number of business opportunities to individuals as a result of the vibrant economy that the state has. However, not everyone is jumping at these opportunities, especially those who are currently employed. This is because for employees who may wish to resign from their jobs to start their own business, most of the apprehension that they feel comes from the fact that when they do decide to leave the company, they would be left to themselves, without the benefits that employees enjoy. One of these benefits is having health insurance, which most companies provide for their employees. However, people who may wish to start their own business need not worry about not being covered by health insurance while they are in the process of setting up their business because health insurance companies now offer short-term health insurance policies.
Short-term health insurance policies
Basically, a short-term health insurance policy is a health insurance plan that is a low-cost alternative to full-benefit plans that can be considered adequate to cover any sudden illness or serious injury while you set up a business and apply for a full benefit health insurance. In other words, these kinds of health insurance policies are just enough to tide you over until you get on your feet with regard to your business and get a full-benefit health insurance plan. Most short-term insurance plans last between six to twelve months.
Advantages and disadvantages
One of the biggest advantages of getting a short-term health insurance plan is that these plans allow you to go to any doctor you choose. Other advantages include the fact that these health plans cover a wide range of therapies and procedures, and the premiums on them can be very low. However, there are also disadvantages in getting them, one of which is that there are quite a number of medical fields that it does not cover, such as preventive care. In addition to this, maternity treatment is also excluded from the treatments that a short-term insurance policy covers.
For people who may need an insurance policy that would tide them over while they set up their business and while they apply for a full benefit health insurance policy, getting a short-term insurance policy may be one of the most viable options they can take. This is because short-term health insurance policies provide an adequate amount of coverage, which can reduce the apprehension that people feel during the stressful time of getting their business up and running.
By: Eric Morris
