Health Insurance: Know what it is and how it protects you

Health insurance is becoming a necessity in today’s world. With costs of medical treatments soaring higher and higher, it is important that every individual should know what is health insurance and avail a good health insurance policy.

What is health insurance?

Health insurance is a type of insurance plan that provides financial coverage for your medical expenditures. Like all insurance plans, in health insurance also the insured pays monthly premium for a fixed period of time. In return, the insurer will provide financial coverage for medical bills if the insured falls ill and need medical treatment.

What’s the need of health insurance?

No one knows when they may fall ill. Moreover with the cost of modern treatment rising higher, sudden need of money for medical purpose can become a big problem to many. Health insurance comes handy in such situations by providing monetary coverage for medical expenses to the insured. Given below are 4 major advantages of health insurance plan:

• Reduction in medical costs
• Availability of regular checkup and consultation with doctor
• Proper treatment by specialized doctor
• Hospitalization in need

While availing a health insurance , make sure to note that your insurance policy covers the following:
Main expenses to be covered:

• Hospital expense
• Surgical expense
• Physician’s expense

Additional benefits that are offered in some health insurances:

• Prescribed drugs cost
• Maternity care cost
• Vision care cost
• Mental health treatment cost

What are the types of health insurance?

Different insurance companies offer different types of health insurance plans to suit the consumer. But we can broadly classify health insurance under 2 categories: Indemnity Plan and Managed Care Plan.

Indemnity Plan:Indemnity health insurance plan is the traditional way under which the coverage for medical cost is fixed for a certain period of time. According to this health insurance plan, the insurer pays the medical expenses either in part or in full for a specific number of days. Moreover, under this plan the insured gets to select the doctor of his choice.

Managed Health Care Plan:In managed health care plan, the insurer works in association with a network that controls the services offered to the insured. The main aim of this health insurance plan is to control cost and provide high quality medical care to the insured. There are 3 major types of managed health care plans that a policy holder can choose from. Given below are the names of these managed health care plans:

• Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO)
• Preferred Provider Organizations (PPO)
• Point Of Service Plan (POS)

Having a proper idea about what is health insurance is a must for all. Moreover, if an individual is also aware of the types of health insurance available, he will be able to pick out the right health insurance policy according to his need.

You should be aware that health insurance usually does not cover extras like vitamins or resveratrol supplements, so if you are going to be adding these to your diet you will have to pay for them out of your pocket.