Health Medical Insurance
Health insurance provides protection against incurring the costs of medical expenses and is often financed either by way of premium payments by way of payroll taxes. In the latter case, the scheme is generally administered by a government agency. A health insurance policy is an insurance contract between an insurer and the insured or, where an employee is being sponsored by an employer who is providing a benefit, the sponsor or employer. The contract can be renewable at periodic intervals and can also be lifelong. The type of coverage that the insurer provides and the associated costs are generally specified either in the contract itself or in a separate document called Evidence of Coverage.
As the insured, there are several terms with which you should be familiar:
- The premium is the amount that is paid by the insured or his sponsor/employer to the insurer to buy the health coverage.
- The deductible is the amount that the insured must pay out of his own pocket before the insurer starts to cover the expenses. For example you may be required to pay a deductible of $750 per year before the insurance cover kicks in. This would mean that you have to pay the first few medical bills out of your pocket till the total reaches $750.
- The co-payment is another form of deductible and represents the share that the insured must pay on every medical bill before the insurance company pays. For instance, if there is a co-payment condition of $50 per bill and you have a doctor’s bill of $100, you must pay your $50 before the insurance company will pay the balance.
- The coinsurance is a share of the total cost that the insured must bear in addition to or in place of a co-payment. For instance, the insurer might require the insured to pay say 25% of the total cost of surgery over and above the co-payment.
- An exclusion is a medical service for which the insurer will not pay and the insured must therefore cover the entire cost of the service out of his own pocket. For instance, some insurers will not cover ambulance costs though other insurers may cover the cost as part of their coverage.
Some insurers offer prescription drug plans where the insured pays a co-payment towards the cost of prescription drugs for treatment and the balance is paid by the insurer up to the coverage limit. Most government run health insurance schemes will routinely offer prescription drug plans of some kind. Many insurers also tend to build a network of service providers who offer services at a discount in return for being part of the network. It is therefore cost-effective for the insured to use these network providers wherever possible.
In countries like the United States, you generally have a choice between comprehensive health insurance and scheduled health insurance. In comprehensive health insurance. Comprehensive health insurance offers comprehensive coverage of a variety of medical expenses and requires the insured to pay a deductible for hospital expenses and a co-payment for doctor’s fees. These plans are generally expensive because of the potentially high payouts involved as well as the large range of benefits provided. Scheduled health insurance is not meant to be a substitute for comprehensive insurance and is designed merely to ease the burden of costs incurred on routine day-to-day medical expenses. These plans are very basic and are not meant to cover medical emergencies or prolonged medical treatment.
Tags: Health Insurance > Insurance > insurance online > Insurance Singapore > Medical Insurance > online insurance > singapore insurance
Comments
Leave a Reply
Share/Save Us
