Today, we cover a very important subject in this article. It is none other than Health Insurance.
Here, we have covered the importance of health insurance.
Well every one of us has dreams and aspirations and sets out various goals to achieve in his or her life.
But the irony of this situation is the fact that you have only one single life to accomplish all your dreams, aspirations and goals that you have set for yourself.
So, it is of immense importance that you should take proper care of your life, or in other words, you must guard your health so that you stay fit and fine to focus on your work, aspirations, and goals.
Life is beautiful yet challenging at the same time. This paradoxical nature of human life compels every one of us to undertake a proper, thoughtful and thorough planning.
So, to make your life beautiful, you invariably have to plan it. And as Health is an important and integral element on which the whole human life depends, one cannot and should not ignore Health or Health Care.
You must also have heard the famous idiom that says “Health Is Wealth.” This idiom has passed the test of time and still holds true and so will always be.
As life is full of uncertainties so in this context a proper safeguard is needed for your Health.
There may be several dimensions to a healthy and protected life, but primarily one dimension that stands upfront and is hugely important and urgent is Health Insurance.
This article will provide a thorough overview of Health Insurance to bring out the importance and benefits of Health Insurance in your life.
Insurance is composed of two streams.
One is Life Insurance, and the other is General Insurance.
Health Insurance is an integral component of General Insurance and is more properly known as Medical Insurance or Mediclaim.
As compared to Life Insurance, Health Insurance is relatively new but has gained immense importance and popularity in recent times all around the globe.
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But do we take care of our Health?
In the present age, we are living such a fast-paced life that we invariably tend to ignore the health aspect of our lives.
The result is that we are getting more prone to illness than ever before. Moreover, there is a steep rise in health care costs which further worsens the whole situation.
As a matter of fact, the past decade has seen a sharp rise in the hospitalization expenses worldwide.
If we take the U.S. as an example, in the U.S. alone hospital stay has become immensely expensive over the past decade.
Whereas an average hospital stay that cost $17,390 per patient in the year 2000 has sharply risen to cost you $33,079 per patient in the year 2010.
This means that an average hospital stay cost has doubled in just a single decade.
Again in the U.S., you get to spend three times more than other industrialized countries as average hospital stay cost per patient.
And that’s not all as prescriptions for painkillers have tripled in the U.S. in the past two decades.
All the more, spending on prescription painkillers has drastically risen from $6.7 billion in 2007 to $8.3 billion in the year 2011.
If we take into account the health care spending in the U.S., it has seen a rise of 50% in the past decade.
The situation gets worse by the fact that whereas health care expenses have registered a sharp rise in the past decade income per person has actually fallen by almost 6% over the same period.
This means that savings potential per person has actually fallen due to rise in overall expenses.
Here, it is important to realize that are we prepared to bear the heavy and rising costs of healthcare expenditures.
What is the way out for you?
One way is that you regularly save for the health care costs for yourself and family. That is surely a way out to meet the health care expenditures.
But is it so easy and moreover sufficient to meet any sort of health-related crisis that you might face in the future?
Well, certainly not.
Then what is the most practical solution for you?
Healthcare Insurance
Having a Health Insurance can certainly solve your problem. Even though health insurance costs have also seen a steady rise in the last decade, taking health insurance remains the best and the most viable method to get rid of all your health-related concerns and risks.
At this point, I will illustrate an example to bring out the importance of health insurance in your lives.
Recently one of my dear friends John was admitted to a hospital as he had met with a serious accident. He had multiple injuries, which included a leg and arm fracture and other complications too.
He underwent intensive care in the hospital, and the doctors had prescribed for an operation too. He was hospitalized for more than a week.
All this led to huge hospitalization costs which led to several thousand of dollars.
John had little savings and had no health insurance coverage to take care of his medical, operative and hospital costs.
He found it hard to meet his hospital expenses although all his friends supported him in this critical hour.
So you see that if John had health insurance, he had not faced such difficulty in meeting his hospital expenses.
Now you can easily understand the importance and utility of having health insurance. We have put before you the facts related to as to why you need to have health insurance with you.
Importance of health insurance
Hereunder, we have listed the prime factors that bring out the importance of health insurance.
Financial risk
Although you may be healthy now, the danger of health hazard cannot be ruled out.
You can succumb to serious illness at any time. Moreover, sudden or serious illness (like cancer, heart attack, paralysis) or even a traumatic event can leave you with staggering medical bills.
The medical bills can run into millions of dollars. Without proper health cover, you may end up exhausting all your savings.
So, a health issue heightens the financial risk. It has happened that people are not able to pay high medical bills and go on to file personal bankruptcy.
It can ruin your credit history and can set you back for years.
You may have to pay a Penalty
As far as Americans are concerned, those who can afford health insurance should have it by 1st January 2017 otherwise they need to pay a tax of $695 per adult or 2.5% (percent) of annual income (whichever is greater).
You Won’t Get Preventive Care and Primary Care
According to the law, insurers need to cover annual checkups and preventive care such as mammograms, colonoscopies, vaccinations, and prostate cancer screenings without having co-pay.
It means that you can stay healthy for a longer time and catch health problems early when they are easier and less expensive for treatment.
In addition to the above, health insurance policies must provide a minimum level of care that is covered under essential health benefits in 10 categories: preventive & wellness services, emergency care, hospitalization, ambulatory care services, maternity and newborn care, pediatric care, mental health, prescription drugs, and rehabilitative services.
So, with health insurance, young and healthy people can benefit from this type of health coverage.
Moreover, there is always a need for preventive care, checkups, and chronic disease management for young adults. Plus, women care is important as well.
All these aspects are well covered in health insurance policies.
Trouble In Getting Follow-Up Care
Although hospital emergency departments care for patients with urgent needs such as broken bones, or head injuries arising out of the accident, irrespective of their ability to pay.
However, there is always the need for follow-up care. Well, it requires a good amount of money. And hospitals are going to charge you for that.
It is here that one needs the helping hand of health insurance. In fact, with health insurance coverage you can take care of the expenses involved in follow-up care and rehab care.
You May Lose Out On Options To Offset Coverage Costs
It is the first time in history that the Affordable Care Act has given the opportunity to people with moderate and low incomes to get tax credits and subsidies for offsetting premiums cost and out-of-pocket expenses for plans that are sold in the state-based health insurance marketplaces.
Moreover, the Affordable Care Act has created equality for all. Health insurance companies cannot cancel an individual’s health policy because they are suffering from a chronic disease.
They cannot discriminate against individuals if they are suffering from a critical condition. They cannot charge them more for health insurance.
Health Insurance Covers Pre-Existing Condition
Anyone having a pre-existing condition can still go on and buy health insurance.
So, one can combat conditions that call for extra medical care. With health insurance, you can get the much needed financial backing for paying the doctor and hospital bills.
Health Care Made Affordable
Insurance companies have network services that cost far less than out-of-network physicians and hospitals thereby making health care more affordable for policyholders.
What Are The Benefits Of Health Insurance?
Health Insurance covers the expenses incurred for medical treatment.
For Health Insurance to come into existence, an insurance company has first to undergo a contract with the insured or the policyholder and this contract results in the form of a “Health Insurance Policy.”
The “policyholder” in this case can be an individual or a sponsor. The sponsor can be one of the family members or can also be the organization in which the individual is employed.
A definite sum of money, known as “Premium” is paid by the policyholder or his sponsor to the insurance company to purchase the health coverage under the particular health insurance plan.
The insured is then entitled to “Benefits” as mentioned in the health insurance policy on the occurrence of the event(s) against which he or she is covered.
The contract of Health Insurance has to be generally renewed every year through such policies are also being designed which do not require annual renewal and covers the medical and health risks over a long period.
This is what we basically mean by “Health Insurance.”
If we analyze the need and importance of health insurance in today’s scenario, the picture can be made clear when we look at the overall benefits of health insurance.
When compared to Life Insurance the premium amount that one has to pay to purchase Health Insurance is relatively much lesser for the same amount of Life Insurance cover.
So, expenditure is never an issue in having a Health Insurance.
And when we view this about the timely financial aid provided by the Health Insurance cover in the times of crisis it is of huge worth.
Another chief importance and benefit of having Health Insurance is the fact it covers your hospitalization and medical expenses.
Either they are fully reimbursed, or you are provided Cashless Hospitalization in which case no expenditure is to be borne by the policyholder or the insured.
So, at least you can minimize the financial loss if you have a health insurance. This will surely give you a feeling of security in the times of medical crisis.
What’s more, you can avail these benefits of security of health cover at only a minimal cost as the premium is low and has to be usually paid once a year only.
There are Health Insurance Plans which also cover the pre and post hospitalization expenses as well together with the regular medical expenses incurred during the actual hospitalization.
The scope of Health Insurance has been increased seeing the present lifestyles of most of the people. Now Health Insurance also covers most of the Critical Diseases and Lifestyle Illnesses.
The list of these illnesses is ever on the increase, but Health Insurance provides you with the financial strength to fight against them.
They provide the facility for insuring oneself against these illnesses for a large amount of expenditure is huge in such cases.
So, today various types of health insurance options are available to you as per your need.
Conclusion
With Health Insurance you can secure yourself against the very uncertainties of medical crisis. A “Medical Crisis” can hit “Anybody and at any time.”
Some things are controllable, and some others are not. Truly we can at least safeguard our selves financially and live a healthy lifestyle.
Health Insurance provides us with one such way.
Rest of the scenarios is mostly not under anybody’s control.
So, let’s stay insured with Health Insurance and live a beautiful life.
However, it is up to you to decide as to whether you require health insurance or not. Remember life is precious and given only once and you need to protect it from any crisis including health.
