WHAT IS HEALTH INSURANCE AND WHY IS IT BENEFICIAL?

Health insurance is a type of insurance which covers the whole or part of a person’s incurring medical expenses and spreading this risk over a large number of people. It is simply a policy that covers the cost of an insured’s medical and surgical expenses. It includes insurance for losses from accidents, medical expenses, disability, accidental deaths and also dismemberment. 

The “insured” is the owner of the health insurance policy, the individual or group of people being covered. The clinics, hospitals, doctors, laboratories, health care practitioners or pharmacies that that treats an insured are called the “providers”. The amount the policy-holder pays to the health plan for health coverage is called “premium”.

There are basically two main types of health insurance, the private health insurance and the public or government health insurance. The private health insurance is a health insurance plan marketed by private health insurance industries while the government or public insurance is a health insurance plan run by a government or government contracted entity. Health insurance policies can either be renewable or lifelong. Renewable contracts can either be monthly or yearly while the lifelong policy is usually a private insurance or the mandatory one done by the government for all citizens called national plans. Health insurance also has different plans which include the Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO), People Preferred Organizations (PPO), free-for-service plans and the Point-Of-Service (POS) plans. Prescription drug plans are sub insurance plans officered through health insurance plans

Everyone should have health insurance. Medical care is quite expensive and when critical, it can derail your finances. With health insurance, all these inconveniences can be avoided in case of medical emergencies. Good health insurance policies cover doctor consultation fees, cost towards medical tests, ambulance charges, hospitalization costs and even recovery costs to a certain extent. Payments made towards health insurance premiums are also eligible for tax deductions. 

People with chronic illnesses such as heart diseases and stroke are more likely to get the care and quality health services they need, have shorter hospital stays and get healthier compared to people without health insurance. These chronic illnesses are expensive; to prevent medical bankruptcy health insurances will help you manage your health and give you access to quality services. 

It’s been said that there’s nothing more important than our health, get health insurance today and be sure of quality medical services.