Health Care Plans

 

 

 

 

Whenever you are playing sports or doing intense activities you will always be putting your health at risk. In the other pages on health and fitness we have talked about ways to reduce your risk of injury. However, the nature of being active with your body means that anything can happen. That said, it is essential that you are prepared to deal with the consequences. The most important thing you can do is get yourself the proper health plan. The health insurance links to this site are some of the best. Compare them to what you have seen in the past and you may be very pleased at what you see. Let's take a further look at the benefits of having great health care and why it so important.

Great reasons for getting health insurance

 

 

PREPARE FOR THE UNEXPECTED

One of the major reasons why you should have health insurance is so that in case something unexpected happens causing injury or illness, you will be able to afford the medical bills. Not every type of illness or injury requires serious medical attention, but if it does, medical bills are anything but cheap. Often times unexpected injuries will result in large medical bills that would otherwise break your bank if you didn't have good health care. For example, if you break your leg playing sports, you have no choice but to visit a hospital. This is something that can easily happen and will not heal without proper medical attention. What if you get into a car accident? That may require extensive emergency medical care. Just because it is an emergency, doesn't mean the hospital won't charge you. Emergency care is even more expensive, especially if it is a life or death situation. If you get into an accident as serious as that, the hospital won't turn you away at the emergency room if you don't have health insurance. However, if you can't pay the bill when it comes in the near future, this will ruin your credit for life and action will be taken against you to make your life miserable. Therefore, you must be prepared.

OVERALL HEALTH

Health insurance isn't only important for emergencies. Having a health care will also improve your overall health and well being because it allows you to have standard physical check-ups regularly. People with good health care are far more likely to receive a quality doctor that they can call their own. Having a good doctor is one of the best ways to make sure you are on the right track towards living a long healthy life. Having physical checkups with your regular doctor will keep you updated on the status of your body and health. A doctor will tell you what you are doing right or wrong in terms of being healthy. This is extremely important if you have children. It is essential that children have a regular doctor that will point them in the proper path of growth and development. If you have a family, there can be no skimping on health care. Your children must have a physical at least once or twice a year to make sure they are healthy and on the right track to a healthy future. The only way to obtain a good regular doctor is to purchase health care.

PURCHASING HEALTH INSURANCE

If you are self employed or do not work for a company that provides health benefits, you will need to purchase individual health care from insurance companies. (See links above) If you are doing this on your own, you will have to pay the whole premium since you won't have an employer to share that cost. This means that you should do a lot of research to see which plans fit your budget the best. Different companies have different types of plans, some of which offer many different options or multiple products. While doing this research, make sure you read carefully without skipping over anything. All information that is given is usually very important. When doing this research, you simply need to assess your lifestyle. Do you participate in activities that put you at high risk of injury? Do you have medical conditions that require you to take medicine regularly? Questions like these will make it easier for you to determine which type of medical plan is the best for your situation.

While doing your research, make sure you look at the basics first. See what the premiums are and get health insurance quotes on how much these plans will cost. Find out what type of medical coverage is offered. In other words, if you take a trip to the hospital, how much will that company pay towards your medical bill. What kind of doctors and hospitals will you be able to have access to under this health plan? Make sure your have a large range from which to choose. What kind of out-of-pocket money will you have to spend such as deductibles and co-pays? Does this company offer pharmacy insurance for you medicine? A quality health insurance company will have good answers to all of these questions.

It is also important to note that if you are self employed, you may be allowed to write off your health insurance costs come tax time. This can be true at the state and federal level. This can save you a lot of money as if you had an employer that provided you with health care. For more information on this you should set up a meeting with a tax advisor who can tell you if you are eligible.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT HEALTH PLAN

There are two major types of health insurance plans that you need to understand when choosing. These are indemnity insurance and managed care, health maintenance organizations (HMO) preferred provider organizations (PPO), point-of-service plans.

The major differences between these two plans is that indemnity insurance is non-network based health coverage while managed care is more network based coverage. In other words, indemnity insurance allows you to choose your own doctor and hospitals with the freedom to change at anytime. Managed care plans will only allow you to choose doctors and hospitals that are a part of that company's network. Indemnity insurance requires less paperwork, but typically does not cover as much of your medical bills. This means that your deductibles will be higher. In managed care plans, your medical bills will be mostly covered as long as you are using that company's network providers for you services. Therefore, indemnity insurance gives you more freedom, but more deductibles. This means that you will have to spend a certain amount of money on medical expenses before your plan starts to kick in. Managed care gives you less freedom, but will generally provide more coverage and less deductibles.

It is important to note that there are 3 types of managed care plans. These are Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO's) Preferred Provider Organizations (PPO's) and Point-of-Service Plans. (POS) All of these plans are network based, but have some differences. HMO's tend to promote long term health and well being by requiring you to seek the majority of your medical care from one primary doctor. Under an HMO plan you will have to receive all of your medical care from network providers with the exception of emergencies. There are no real deductibles under HMO's just flat rate co-pays. One of the best things about HMO's is that there is no lifetime limit on health coverage.

PPO and POS plans offer more flexibility in choosing doctors, but still stress network based care. Like indemnity plans, this flexibility results in higher premiums than HMO's. Even if you want to choose a provider outside of the network, these plans will still cover your bills, but not as much and you will usually have to pay deductibles.

As you can see, you will almost always have to sacrifice flexibility for cost and vice versa. Keep in mind that these health plans will vary among different insurance companies. These are simply the basic characteristics of these different types of health plans so you can have a good base of knowledge before researching different companies. The most important question to ask yourself from the information above is the following: Which do will I value more, lower premiums or a larger range of medical providers to choose from?

Comparing Health Plans

Not only is it important to determine which type of health insurance to buy, but it is also necessary to compare between the different companies to see which offer the most quality features that are the most relevant to your needs. Different health care providers may have stronger features than others and might also have weaker benefits in other areas. Ask yourself which features of a health plan are most important to your lifestyle. Then do as much research as you can to see which plans feature those areas the most.

For example, if you have a pre-existing condition, you need to find a health care provider that will cover any medical expenses related to that immediately after signing up for the plan. Not all health insurance agencies will cover a pre-existing condition because of the fact that the condition existed prior to you purchasing the health plan. Other companies will only cover a pre-existing condition after a certain amount of time.

If you take prescription drugs, it is crucial that you choose a health plan with quality prescription drug coverage. Many health plans will have different types of pharmacy coverage. Some will not cover prescription drugs at all. Some will offer some coverage but with varying co-pays depending on the drug. Anyone who takes one or more prescription drugs should find a health plan with %100 pharmacy coverage no matter which drug you take. This way your co-pays will be low and consistent and your pharmacy expenses will always be covered. This is important because prescription drugs can be the most costly medical expenses without the proper coverage. You may not have to visit the hospital all year, but you will always have to refill you prescription.

Clearly, one of the most popular issues for comparing health plans like anything else is the cost. Medical insurance is not cheap so you will want to find the most affordable plan. However, many people make the mistake of buying the cheapest health insurance they can find, not realizing that the coverage is poor. With most quality health plans, such as the ones in the links above, you get what you pay for. If you buy cheap health insurance, there is a good chance you might end up paying more in the long term if that company has poor coverage with high deductibles. Most health plans will have a monthly fee. Find the cheapest one that still offers good coverage with the lowest deductibles. Also, take co-pays into consideration. These are the fees that you have to pay for prescription drugs or a doctors appointment. Find a health care provider with low co-payments but quality coverage. Find the most affordable health insurance you can, but don't sacrifice quality of coverage for low monthly costs or you might end up paying more in medical bills.

FINAL NOTE ON HEALTH CARE

The field of medicine is continuously becoming more advanced in terms of research and treatment. This of course results in a constant increase in the cost of medical bills. Medical bills are simply not within the range of the average person to pay comfortably without coverage. One trip to the hospital could cost $100,000. You simply never know. Medical expenses are unexpected and unpredictable. Some years you may not be in need of medical attention at all, while other years you will. Of course the purpose of insurance is to protect you "in case" something happens. You cannot simply wait until something happens to purchase health insurance because it always takes time to process. Clearly there are no guarantees of bad thing occurring, but you may sleep easier at night without the fear having your life saved in an emergency and not being able to pay for it.