Archive for October, 2009
The Basics of Health Insurance
Health insurance, in this modern world of cancer, heart disease, AIDS, diabetes, asthma, ageing and other diseases and afflictions, it is essential to have some sort of health insurance.
There are many levels of health insurance coverage available; unfortunately, like most things in life, you get what you pay for, and good coverage can be very expensive.
The two most common terms in referring to health insurance are premium, which is the amount paid for the insurance, and deductible, which is your out-of-pocket expense before the insurance pays your provider.
For instance, you might pay $300 premium per month for family coverage, and your deductible might be $250 per person, which means if you fell and broke your ankle and went to the hospital emergency room, you would be required to pay the first $250 of the bill.
You can purchase very basic catastrophic coverage, which would carry a very high deductible and the premium would be less than comprehensive coverage which would have a higher premium and lower deductible. It pays to invest the time to investigate various insurance options, taking into consideration your age, your general health and the health of your family members.
Your employer may offer group health insurance, which is most likely the least expensive option for you, and usually the premium is deducted from your paycheck.
Health insurance is a calculated risk; can you afford the premiums or are you willing to risk that you would pay less out of pocket for medical expenses in a year than the premiums would cost? Consider carefully.
Tags: health, health insurance, insurancePrescription Insurance Policies
Some health insurance policies do not provide for prescription coverage and a separate policy must be purchased for prescription medications. This is an area where it pays to do some homework and research and find the best policy for you. Prescription coverage insurance is not a necessity; like health insurance coverage, it is a calculated risk, although the risk is not as high.Usually you can buy prescription insurance at any time, so if the doctor determines that you need an expensive maintenance drug, you may opt in at that time.
It is important to know that if you presently have prescription insurance you can usually only change it at a specific time of the year, although you can add new prescriptions, you can’t change plans. The person who seldom takes prescription medications probably does not need prescription insurance; however, a person who takes maintenance drugs for high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, heart disease or
immune disorders most likely needs insurance against the high costs of drugs.
Prescription insurance policies usually have “tiers”, which usually means that a generic drug is at a low or no co-pay, a tier 2 level may be the brand name genuine, and a tier 3 may be a brand new expensive drug that the co-pay could be a set high-percentage of the cost.
In choosing prescription insurance, you should first list the prescriptions that you take and the retail amount of them. If you chose not to purchase insurance, this would be your monthly cost.
Find out from the provider what the monthly premium for you would be, then what the prescription co-pay amount would be and add these two figures together. Which is the less expensive alternative?
Tags: health insurance policies, insurance, insurance policies, prescription insuranceMedicare Insurance
Medicare is a governmental program which provides medical insurance coverage for retired persons over age 65 or for others who meet certain medical conditions, such as having a disability.
Medicare was signed into legislation in 1965 as an amendment to the Social Security program and is administered by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) under the Department of Human Services.
Medicare provides medical insurance coverage for over 43 million Americans, many of whom would have no medical insurance. While not perfect, the Medicare program offers these millions of people relatively low cost basic insurance, but not much in the way of preventative care. For instance, Medicare does not pay for an annual physical, vision care or dental care.
Medicare is paid for through payroll tax deductions (FICA) equal to 2.9% of wages; the employee pays half and the employer pays half.
There are four “parts” to Medicare: Part A is hospital coverage, Part B is medical insurance, Part C is supplemental coverage and Part D is prescription insurance. Parts C and D are at an added cost and are not required. Neither Part A nor B pays 100% of medical costs; there is usually a premium, co-pay and a deductible. Some low-income people quality for Medicaid, which assists in paying part of or all of the out-of-pocket costs.
Because more people are retiring and become eligible for Medicare at a faster rate than people are paying into the system, it has been predicted that the system will run out of money by 2018. Health care costs have risen dramatically, which adds to the financial woes of Medicare and the system has bee plagued by fraud over the years.
No one seems to have a viable solution to save this system that saves many people throughout the country.
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