Health Insurance Daily Blog

Catastrophic plans provide additional benefits for catastrophic illnesses that are usually not covered by regular health insurance. Such plan has a very high deductible, reaching $10,000 and up, and the patient pays for the first $15,000 of the bill. The rest of the amount will then be covered by the plan. The amount may be large at first, but considering the cost of procedures and treatment for disastrous illness that may reach hundreds of dollars, the deductible and initial payment will be worth it.

Traveling within your state or within your country’s boundary doesn’t pose much issue on your health insurance coverage since most providers are affiliated with doctors and hospitals all over the country. Traveling to another country needs more preparation, if you are to secure your health coverage.

The US Department of State has a very useful page intended for out-of-country travelers. It offers practical tips in keeping yourself safe, informing your family and friends on your itinerary and making sure you are aware of your insurance coverage while you are abroad.

Aside from travelers and tourists, overseas workers, exchange students and expats are also offered international health insurance. International Citizens.com offers plans that range from international coverage, annual travel medical plan, to short term health insurance, trip cancellation and emergency medical evacuation. Other companies that offer these services:

All Aboard Benefits
Inside Direct
Travel Insure
Health is International

(image from www.healthisinternational.com)

Other types of health plans to supplement your basic health coverage are available. In the US, Medicare members who are over 65 years old and have been members for more than six months are eligible for Medigap or MedSup, which is a private insurance that covers gaps in Medicare coverage. Visit this site for more details.

Another supplemental plan is a long-term care policy which covers medical care, nursing care and specific in-home care that you might be needing when you reach the age, or you suffer an illness or disability and can no longer care for yourself. Long-term care is usually paid in a fixed amount for each day of coverage, ranging from $40 to $200. Nursing home care is more expensive than in-home care. This site provides information on long-term care.

For workers who suffer illnesses or accidents that prevent them from working (even after hospitalization), a disability income insurance can be very useful. It provides you with around 60% of your most recent income. There are many restrictions for this plan, especially if a certain disability still allows you to perform other livelihood projects for the disabled. Visit this site to find out more about disability income insurance.

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Most people think about hospitalization and surgery benefits and forget about dental and visual health. Check-ups and treatments for the latter two are usually not covered in basic health insurance, and should either be negotiated with the health insurance provider to be included, or availed of as a separate plan.

A Dental Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) provides dental indemnity plan or Fee-for-service-plan that allows its members to visit a dentist of their choice, pay the fees and reimburse the cost according to the plan’s coverage. On the other hand, a Dental Maintenance Organization (DMO) requires its members to visit only accredited dentists, otherwise the patient will shoulder the cost of dental services.

For the vision, a Vision Maintenance Organization (VMO) or PPO network provides coverage for eye exams, a percentage of the cost of eye glasses and contact lenses, and a part of the cost of laser treatment may also be covered.

Legislators are pushing for more coverage for the average American in the US allowing them better access to proper health care. There used to be a wide gap between those who were not qualified to obtain private care but were in fact overqualified to receive state sponsored health care leaving millions without any form of health care coverage. new bills have expanded the reach of public health care narrowing the gap even in today’s economic slowdown which has a great impact on the quality of life for many Americans.
In some states, almost quarter of a million residents were unable to access proper care falling between the specified gap for private and public health care. In order to reform the long debilitated health care system, legislators have revised again and again laws narrowing the gap for all to gain some form of health care. Hopefully, the global economic slowdown would ease off allowing states to further expand the coverage of the health care system even eliminating it totally, if the economy recovers fast and strong that is.

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Short Term health insurance plans is ideal for you if you are waiting for another health insurance begin its coverage period, or if you were laid off or if you are on strike, in between jobs, a seasonal employee or a recent college graduate. When the coverage period expires, most health insurance providers will allow you to re-apply for another short term plan but only once. This type of plan is for temporary coverage only so it does not include some benefits of a standard long term plan like dental and vision care, but coverage period starts as early as within 24 hours upon making your payment. Most short term health insurance companies have two modes of payment: single up-front payments and monthly payments. The first one is applicable if you know the exact period you will need coverage and the second if you do not know the exact period you will need coverage.

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Affordable health insurance has become a growing concern in the country. An escalating number of enterprises can no longer give inexpensive health insurance plans to their workers because of the skyrocketing expense and the absence of federal and state laws that will enable these small enterprises to buy wholesale affordable insurance plans . Various states throughout the USA are seeking ways to lessen the costs of the Medicare and Medicaid health insurance plans for the retirees and the poor.The good news is some private companies are testing new options of health insurance otherwise known as health discount plans. The existing health care system is beyond the reach of about 47 million citizens. In answer to the crisis in the health care system, health maintenance organizations or HMO was born. They were primarily created to remove unimportant tests from those that the patient actually needs when being treated to avoid ballooning expenses.

Copayment is an amount the individual has to pay for each visit or treatment before the health plan pays for the service.

A modified form of copayment is coinsurance, where cost of service is shared between the insured and the health plan. An individual may have to pay 20% of the cost of a procedure, and the remaining 80% will be paid by the health plan. The percentages are agreed upon by both parties.

In other countries, pregnancy-related healthcare are not covered by health insurance policies. Pre-natal and post-natal check ups are covered, but procedures and laboratory tests are not. US citizens are very fortunate to have the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, approved in 1978 as an amendment to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Pregnant employees will have the same benefits as any other employee that has medical conditions. Health insurance provided by employers should cover pregnancy related expenses. This benefit is not limited to married employees. However, abortion procedures are not covered, except when the mother’s life is in danger.

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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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