Health insurance is getting more important in today’s world. With the increase in the number of critical diseases, people are worried about the financial impact of all these diseases. Nowadays, people understand the inability of the governments to support them financially in their worst times. So, they try to seek alternatives to meet their needs.
Apart from the above reason, health insurance’s importance is also proven by the old-age benefits, high medical costs, and lack of quality health services.
Senior citizens find it extremely beneficial when they are unable to earn and spend on their well beings. Sometimes, they are even left alone by their children and other close relatives. They feel burdened on others, so health insurance definitely plays a vital role for them at that age.
The cost of obtaining medical services on our own is very high. The bills can sometimes run your pocket dry. Even then, the bills can not be paid without taking loans from others; friends, family, or banks. In order to avoid being indebted for your lifetime or afterward, health insurance can save you from high ticket hospital bills and expenses.
Let’s continue the discussion to know why health insurance is important.
Types of health insurance
There are two main types of health insurance:
– Private
– Government-run
Private health insurance:
People are offered private health insurance from their employer, but self-employed people also buy this to secure themselves. Under this insurance, they have to pay a monthly premium to the insurance company.
Government-run health insurance:
Government health insurance is divided mostly into two categories
- Medicare: This is for the old age people including (65 yrs or above), but some disabled persons below 65 yrs can also avail of this.
- Medicaid: This is for low-income citizens.
How the health insurance system works
When you buy health insurance, your hospital bill is sent to the insurer first. They analyze the bill and reimburse the bill according to your insurance plan.
To know about health insurance, consider it like car insurance. In which, the cost of repairing the car or even replacing it with the new one is met by the insurance company after analyzing the damage done to the car in an accident.
But health insurance offers a lot more than just damage repair to the car, they can help you with routine checkups, vaccinations, and preventive health care options also.
Why should anyone get health insurance?
There can be so many reasons to get health insurance, in this article we are trying to cover why health insurance is important. So, we find the most important reasons and listed them down for you:
1. It supports you when you fall sick
No one wants to get ill, but sometimes we fall sick and reach the hospital beds. That is the worst time to think about how you are going to pay the hospital and other medical expenses. So, health insurance saves you there.
2. Preventing illnesses
Health insurance safeguards you to get sick in the first place. With benefits like routine checkups and vaccinations, it safeguards you from so many diseases.
3. Change in the standard of living
With so many changes occurring in our way of life, for example; the high pollution rate due to industrialization, tough working hours, and bad eating habits (fast foods, junk foods, etc) have left us vulnerable to so many diseases. To protect ourselves from these diseases’ financial impact health insurance is the key.
4. High medical costs
The rise in inflation all over the world after the Covid-19 has triggered the medical bills also. The medical expense has also increased drastically. Without health insurance, individuals can not pay their hospital bills. In certain parts of the world like India, and Pakistan, people spend their life savings on meeting their medical expenses.
5. Covers the pre and post hospitalization bills
The cost of OPD, and diagnostic tests have risen over time. These expenses are essential to get the proper treatment. Health insurance not only covers the hospital bills but also these costs are met by an insurance company (depending on the policy terms and conditions).
Is there any right age to qualify for health insurance?
The answer to this question is simple. The early you buy, the better it is. Premiums increase with the age and medical history, in younger age you would pay less for the same policy for which you would pay more in your older age. So, you can save some bucks if you purchase health insurance as early as possible.
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