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Health Insurance Guide
A Nice Surprise If You Cannot Afford Health Insurance
An incredible 20% of adult Americans say that they are not able to afford satisfactory health care according to the latest report released by the Centers for Disease Control. So, are you amongst the more than 40 million adults who are not able to sleep soundly because of the fear of not being able to meet the cost of medical treatment in the event of illness or accident? More to the point, have you got to be amongst the 40 million?
The CDC report which was published in 2007 and scrutinized health care throughout the US looked in depth at several aspects of health care and revealed amongst other things that:
- Ten percent of people cannot presently afford the cost of prescription medicines.
- Ten percent of people postpone having medical treatment because of the price.
- As many as nearly 1 in 3 young people aged between 18 and 24 do not have a normal source of medical treatment or health care insurance.
- Ten percent of people between the ages of 45 and 64 do not have a normal source of medical treatment and roughly 50% of this group are suffering from high blood pressure, a serious heart condition or diabetes.
- Twenty percent of people below 65 years of age are not insured for at least part of each year, with the majority of these having no insurance throughout the 12 month period.
A lot of people are fortunate enough to get health insurance cover for themselves and their families through schemes operated by their employer, but rising costs are forcing an increasing number of employers to reduce the cover under their employee health insurance plans or to drop them altogether. However, there are also many millions of people who cannot get cover from their employer and who have to make arrangements for themselves. It is this second group which generally considers that health care insurance is simply too costly.
But are you right to dismiss the idea of getting medical insurance simply because you consider that it is too expensive? Health insurance comes in numerous shapes and sizes and, although a traditional plan can be very expensive, there are many less expensive alternatives.
In very simple terms medical insurance plans fall into roughly two categories comprising disability policies and medical expense policies. The first provides compensation for your lost income if you are not able to work through disability while the latter give you cover for medical bills arising out of accident or injury.
Each of these types of medical insurance can be bought as a single policy or separately and separate plans can again be broken down to cover specific areas such as accident coverage, hospital care, major medical expenses, basic medical expenses and more.
Furthermore, cover today can be offered by not merely traditional insurers, but also by various group organizations, companies such as Blue Cross and Blue Shield, health maintenance organizations and preferred provider organizations, each of which offers a wide range of plans with payment options to match more or less every wallet.
If you have been frightened off by the thought that you simply cannot afford to pay for health insurance then think again. You might not be able to afford a fully comprehensive policy covering all eventualities but it is a sure bet that you will be able to discover a policy which will give you enough cover to provide you with peace of mind.
Autonomy: An ethical principle which, when applied to managed care, states that managed care organizations and their providers have a duty to respect the right of their members to make decisions about the course of their lives.
Experience: The actual cost of providing health care to a group during a given period of coverage.
Promise keeping/truthtelling: An ethical principle which, when applied to managed care, states that managed care organizations and their providers have a duty to present information honestly and are obligated to honor commitments.
Rate spread: The difference between the highest and lowest rates that a health plan charges small groups. The NAIC Small Group Model Act limits a plan's allowable rate spread to 2 to 1.
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