With more and more employers reducing health insurance benefits or totally eliminating them, the burden of providing adequate health insurance has fallen on the shoulders of the individual.
Understand Types Of Health Plans Available
There are many different “styles” of health insurance and health plans, including:
Indemnity health plans normally provide a pre-determined benefit for specific healthcare costs. For example, an indemnity plan may pay $100 per day for every day a person is confined to a hospital or a $500 surgical benefit, or both.
Even though these limited benefit health insurance programs will not cover all the healthcare costs of your major illnesses, they are an affordable way of providing a “safety net” by helping pay the costs of doctor check-ups, hospital stays and prescription medications.
Discount health plans are simply discounted fee for service health plans. It is important to understand that these discount plans are not health insurance. Medical care providers within the network have agreed to accept a reduced fee and oftentimes the savings can be up to 50%. Medical care must be obtained from a network provider and the reduced fee must normally be paid at the time of the service.
The health insurance plan which provides the most healthcare benefits, but is also the most expensive, is the Major Medical Plan. There are ways to reduce the cost of a Major Medical Insurance Plan, including: a higher deductible, higher co-pays, and higher out-of-pocket expenses.
With more and more employers reducing health insurance benefits or totally eliminating them, the burden of providing adequate health insurance has fallen on the shoulders of the individual.
So what can we do to reduce the costs of health insurance for ourselves and our families?
Understand Types Of Health Plans Available
There are many different “styles” of health insurance and health plans, including:
Indemnity health plans normally provide a pre-determined benefit for specific healthcare costs. For example, an indemnity plan may pay $100 per day for every day a person is confined to a hospital or a $500 surgical benefit, or both.
Even though these limited benefit health insurance programs will not cover all the healthcare costs of your major illnesses, they are an affordable way of providing a “safety net” by helping pay the costs of doctor check-ups, hospital stays and prescription medications.
Discount health plans are simply discounted fee for service health plans. It is important to understand that these discount plans are not health insurance. Medical care providers within the network have agreed to accept a reduced fee and oftentimes the savings can be up to 50%. Medical care must be obtained from a network provider and the reduced fee must normally be paid at the time of the service.
The health insurance plan which provides the most healthcare benefits, but is also the most expensive, is the Major Medical Plan. There are ways to reduce the cost of a Major Medical Insurance Plan, including: a higher deductible, higher co-pays, and higher out-of-pocket expenses.
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