Health insurance covers the medical expenses of the insured person. Health insurance can refund you of any expenses that you incur when you are being treated for an illness. There are different types of health insurance including private health insurance, family health insurance, or health insurance that covers critical illness. Health insurance is one of the most important financial decisions that you will have to make in your life.
It is, therefore, important to do proper research about the insurance and what it covers before buying it. You can ask for advice from experts in the insurance field before buying it. Depending on your budget, you can decide to buy public health insurance that is subsidized by the government or you can buy private health insurance. Health insurance has its advantages and disadvantages as explained in this article.
What is the Good Side of Health Insurance?
To Prevent Bankruptcy
Health insurance is deducted from your salary or you can pay monthly premiums from your pocket. In case you fall sick, the health insurance will cater to your hospital bill, depending on the insurance policy that you have taken. Paying medical bills from your pocket can be very expensive and can make you use all your life savings. When people deplete their savings, they may end up borrowing money to pay back, and sometimes paying back becomes difficult.
To Cater for Rising Cases of Lifestyle Diseases
Today, many people are living a sedentary life and this has led to increased cases of lifestyle diseases like diabetes. Heart diseases and cancer have also increased in the recent past. These lifestyle illnesses require lifelong medications which are very expensive to pay from the pocket. Health insurance helps to relieve you of the burden of paying for these diseases from your pocket.
Encourages You to Seek Important Disease Prevention Measures
There are medical services that are necessary but too expensive to pay out of the pocket. These services include dental services which may be very expensive, but private health insurance can pay for them. Preventive medicine is an important aspect of medical services today because they help to screen for cancer and other diseases like STDs. Screening for this service early can help you to get immediate treatment and better long-term outcomes.
Helps in Financial Planning
When you are making financial decisions for your life, health insurance should be one of those decisions. This is because when you are planning big projects like buying a new house, you need to save as much money as possible. Paying for medical services from your pocket may cost you your savings and therefore limit you from making other investments.
Health Insurance Safeguards Your Family
When you get a family health insurance cover, you can cater to the medical needs of your family members. A family insurance cover can be important for you when you have elderly parents who have increased medical needs and even when you have a family member who has a chronic illness.
What is the Bad Side of Health Insurance?
Some Services May Not Be Covered
Many public health services do not pay for special services like dentistry, ophthalmology, and preventive medicine. If you are from Canada and want dental implants, you can visit this page for more info on how much they cost and whether they are covered by insurance. These services are very important for your health and if you cannot afford health insurance that you can pay for, you may be forced to pay out of pocket. Health insurance does not cover preexisting health conditions and this makes it inconvenient.
Health Insurance Can Be Expensive
When you have a low income or you are self-employed, it may be expensive for you to pay for a good health insurance cover. The cost that you have to pay may also be higher when you are paying for your entire family or when you have a chronic illness like cancer. This can make health insurance to be inconvenient for you and add a burden to your expenses.
Limited Selection
Depending on the insurance that you get, your choices of hospitals, services, and even doctors may be limited and this may limit you from getting the best medical care. To benefit from the best services, you may be required to get a more expensive policy. Sometimes the health insurance policy that you have taken may not cover critical illness.
There are No Refunds
Once you pay for a health insurance cover, you cannot get your money back even if you have not used it. This is one thing that makes health insurance become inconvenient.
Health insurance is important because it can pay for unexpected illnesses and prevents you from going bankrupt when you pay from your pocket. With private insurance, you can get special services like screening for chronic diseases which is important for your general wellbeing. Health insurance may however be expensive and fail to cover some important services.
