WHY HEALTH INSURANCE IS IMPORTANT

What is Health Insurance?

Health insurance is a health insurance risk hedged against the probability that if and when someone unexpectedly becomes sick, requires expensive treatments, or is at the mercy of a chronic condition that requires long-term care they will not fall into dire financial straits.

Why we need Health Insurance?

As a human being, a health is the worthy wealth besides money. We cannot enjoy what we have if we are not healthy. In the other hand, we cannot avoid the diseases in our daily life, such as influenza, cough, fever, or other serious illness.

Moreover, the way people live today is not healthy anymore. It is because they tend to do so many activities without doing any exercises. Therefore, some serious diseases such as stroke, heart attack, and cancer might appear as the effects.

Investing in Health Insurance means investing in your quality of life?

Health insurance helps protect an individual or family from financial loss for costs incurred because of sickness or injury. People who have health insurance enjoy better health, get more preventive care, have better access to prescription drugs, more productive at work and are more able to pay for the basic necessities in life.

It is especially important for children. Children need those "well-child visits" to prevent illnesses by getting immunized as recommended and at the ages recommended. Without insurance you find that kids lack the care they need, which leads to the illness and costs the system more.

Therefore, investing in insurance means investing in your quality of life.

Are there any risks?

Although health insurance is a blessing for most people that suffer from illness, it does have certain disadvantages that some have to carefully consider.

§  Cost

Health insurance can be very costly even for those that have a health insurance plan through their employers. This is problematic for those that have a low income or are self-employed. Families may also have a great deal of difficulty affording coverage for the entire family because of the cost. In addition, even if someone is able to afford health insurance, they may not be able to afford the co-pays. Some health insurance plans have high co-pays that can be costly to a person with an average or low income level. In the end, the total cost has to be carefully weighed by the person considering health insurance.

§  Medical Coverage

Actual medical coverage can also be a disadvantage to some people with health insurance. The medical coverage may not be enough to sufficiently cover the cost of tests, surgeries and procedures that need to be carried out. This can leave the person paying high bills for medical services and may even cause some people to refuse medical care that they need. This can lead to an exacerbation of illness or even death, which can end up costing the person, the person's family, taxpayers and even the government more money.

§  Pre-Existing Exclusion

If a person enrolls in a new group health insurance plan, they may be asked if they have any pre-existing conditions. In addition, after enrolling in a new group health insurance plan, if a claim is made during the first year, the insurance company has the right to “look back” to see if this was due to a pre-existing condition. If it was, the insurance company may refuse to pay for any charges related to this “pre-existing condition.” This may be in effect for up to 18 months and can be quite expensive for someone with a serious illness.

In summary, health insurance is important for both individuals and families. The benefits of health insurance are clear; it provides you with the means to look after yourself and your family, without worrying about the cost of medical care. Unfortunately, beside those advantages, we also have to consider the disadvantages that are mentioned above. Even though we have had health insurance, we should not rely on that without doing any prevention such as doing exercising, consuming a healthy food, and having a good life style.