Health Insurance Daily Blog

By Aileen Banting

Having a medical insurance while traveling comes handy in case of medical emergencies. Several insurance companies, depending on your country, supplies exceptional medical and evacuation protection while traveling or living outside of your home country. Some plans even have “hazardous sports”, “incidental return home” riders and “terrorisms coverage”. Most would not comprise habitual doctor’s visits, only emergencies are covered. Meanwhile, some plans offer no deductible applied on their plans. For other plans, they have a provision that each trip cannot exceed thirty days. So never forget having an insurance plan set up before you travel, you never know when or where your health is at risk.

As a way to attract members to maximize their health plan benefits, Philadelphia’s Medicaid HMO plans give freebies to members who participate in health screenings and other medical check-ups.

Preventive health care is being encouraged as it will ultimately cut down health costs in the long run. People tend to go to the doctor when their illness is already at an advance stage and prevention is no longer possible. Regular health screenings can help detect a chronic illness at an early stage, and other hereditary conditions can be prevented.

Members do not prioritize health screenings because of time constraints, or lack of transportation. Small incentives like free movie tickets have helped encourage more members to make time for a health screening.

Employers also used wellness programs for employees to encourage and instill healthy lifestyles. This practice will help reduce future health costs as members are healthier and will not be prone to illnesses. Incentives include free trips for those who will complete a wellness course, or those who undergo flu shots.

Read more of the HMO’s gimmicks to encourage health and wellness for its members. –>

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Fraud in the health insurance industry is described as an intentional act of deceiving, concealing or misrepresenting information that results in health care benefits paid to an individual or group. (source)

Members and providers may commit fraud. Members may provide false or incomplete information to become eligible, omit pre existing conditions or file excessive claims for simple procedures. Sometimes doctors and patients collude and come up with false claims that maximize the insurance coverage. Providers may submit claims signed by fake physicians, bill for services not rendered and provide services without a license.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 has established that health care fraud is a federal criminal offense with monetary penalties and punishment of up to 10 years in prison.

By Aileen Banting

A traditional health insurance has insurance products that are confined by a “guarantee fund”. A guarantee fund offers compensation for enclosed services when an insurer experience bankruptcy or becomes insolvent. Insurance carriers have extensive supervisions of the State over their financial solvency. An example of a traditional health insurance with a guarantee fund is New Jersey’s State Law. New Jersey State Law protects you in this traditional health insurance. Looking forward to purchasing an insurance or HMO product? You have to make sure first that the insurance company has a license to put up for sale business in New Jersey.

The great thing about being self-employed is you are your own employer. But that means you will shoulder healthcare insurance 100%. If you need to cut down on costs, you can consider the following:

Buy a short-term healthcare plan. This costs less than a comprehensive plan, but is also limited to accidents, illnesses and injuries.

Buy a group plan with other members of professional associations that you are a part of. A group or corporate plan is cheaper than an individual policy, and has more coverage than a short-term plan.

A self-employed individual’s health plan is tax deductible. Use it as a deduction on your savings.

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Open a health savings account and save for future emergencies.

If you are planning to move to another place and migrate, or transfer to a new job, and getting a long-term health insurance seems impractical, you may consider getting a short term health insurance. You can be covered as soon as the next day, and your policy may be for thirty days, a few months or a year. It is a good alternative while you are still considering other insurance options.

Short term health insurance is also an alternative to the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA), wherein employees with a group policy are offered an opportunity to be covered temporarily by their employers in case of job lay-offs, termination of employee�s service or other changes in the company. Short term health insurance is said to cost lower than COBRA.

Pre-existing conditions and medical check-ups, however, are not covered.

For more information, visit Short Term Health Insurance.com and compare offers from different providers

Also visit: www.zisinsurance.com

(image from www.zisinsurance.com)

Aside from the basic health insurance coverage which includes regular medical check-ups, hospitalization (with certain limitations) and basic treatments, other types of coverage are available for your specific needs. For the working class, some of the coverage are offered by employers.

Hospital-surgical policies provide hospitalization benefits that include room and board, doctor�s services while in the hospital, surgery, laboratory and X-ray. This, however, is limited only to certain kinds of illnesses, and has a maximum limit on the costs, the excess of which will be shouldered by the patient.

For specific dreaded diseases such as cancer, a specified or dread-disease policy provides coverage, but might not be available in all states in the US.

Beneficial especially for workers who are paid by the day is the hospital indemnity insurance where a patient is paid a certain amount for each day he is hospitalized. There may be certain limitations on the illnesses covered by such plan.

For more health insurance information, visit Healthinsurance.com

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