 
Health Insurance California >> Health Insurance >> Other Forms of Health Insurance Other Forms of Health Insurance In addition to broad health insurance coverage for medical, surgical, and other hospital expenses, there are many other kinds of health insurance. Hospital-surgical health policies, sometimes known as basic health insurance, provide benefits when you have covered conditions that require hospitalization. These health benefits typically comprise room and board and other hospital services, surgery, ‘physicians’ non surgical services that are carried out in a hospital, expenses for diagnostic X-rays and laboratory tests, and room and board in an extended health care facility. Health benefits for hospital room and board might be a per-day dollar amount or all or part of the hospital’s daily price for a semi-private room. Health benefits for operation normally are listed, showing the maximum benefit for all type of surgical procedure. Hospital-surgical health policies might give you "first-dollar" health coverage. That means that there is no deductible at all for these health insurance policies, or amount that you have to pay, for a covered medical expense. Other health insurance policies might even contain a small deductible. Keep in mind that hospital-surgical health insurance policies usually do not cover lengthy hospitalizations and costly medical care. In the event that you need these types of health insurance services, you might incur large expenses that are quite difficult to meet unless you have other health insurance policies. Catastrophic health insurance coverage pays hospital and medical expenses above a certain deductible; this could provide additional protection if you hold either a hospital-surgical health insurance policy or a major medical insurance policy with a lower-than-adequate life time limit. These health insurance policies typically contain a very high deductible ($15,000 or more) and a maximum life time limit high enough to cover the costs of catastrophic illness. Specified or dread disease health policies gives benefit only if you get the specific disease or any group of diseases named in the health policy. For example, a health policy may cover only medical care for cancer. Because benefits are limited in amount, these health policies are not an alternate for broad medical coverage. Nor are particular disease policies obtainable in every state. Hospital indemnity health insurance pays you a specified amount of cash benefits for each day when you are hospitalized, usually up to a designated number of days. These cash benefits are paid straight in hand to you, could be used for any purpose, and might be useful in meeting out-of-pocket health expenses not covered by other health insurance as well. Hospital indemnity health policies often are obtainable directly from health insurance companies by mail plus through insurance policy agents. You would find that these health policies offering many choices, so be sure to ask questions and find the right health plan to meet your health insurance needs. Some health insurance policies contain limitations on preexisting medical conditions that you might have before your health insurance takes effect. Others contain an elimination period that means that health benefits would not be paid until after you have been hospitalized for a specified number of days. When you apply for the health insurance policy, you might be allowed to select among any two or three elimination periods, with different premiums for each. Although you could reduce your health insurance premiums by choosing a longer elimination period, you should remember that most patients are hospitalized for relatively brief periods of time. If you purchase a hospital indemnity health policy, do periodical review. If you need to increase your daily health benefits to keep pace with rising health insurance costs. Medicare supplement health insurance policy, sometimes called Medigap or MedSup, is private health insurance policy that helps cover some of the gaps in Medicare insurance coverage. Medicare is the centralized health plan of hospital and other medical insurance primarily for people age 65 and over who are not covered by an employer’s health insurance plan. But Medicare doesn’t cover all medical expenses. That’s where MedSup policy comes in. All Medicare supplement health insurance policies must cover certain expenses, such as the daily coinsurance amount for hospitalization and 90 percent of the hospital charges that otherwise will have been paid by Medicare health policy, after Medicare is exhausted. Some health policies might even offer additional benefits, such as health coverage for precautionary medical care, prescription drugs, or at-home recovery. There are 10 standard Medicare supplement health insurance policies, designated by the letters A through J. With these standardized health insurance policies, it is much easier to compare the costs of these health policies issued by different health insurers. While all 10 standard health policies might not be available to you, Plan A must be made accessible to Medicare recipients everywhere. Health insurers are not allowable to sell health policies that duplicate benefits you already receive under Medicare health or other health insurance policies. If you decide to replace an existing Medicare supplement insurance policy—and you must do so only after very careful evaluation—you must sign a statement that you intend to replace your existing health policy and that you would not keep both health policies in force. People who are 65 or above could purchase Medicare supplement health insurance policy without having to worry about being rejected for existing medical problems, so as long as they apply within six months after enrolling yourself in Medicare health insurance policy. Long-term health care policies cover the medical care, nursing care, and other assistance you may prefer if you ever have a chronic illness or with disability that leaves you unable to care for yourself for an extended period of time. These health insurance services usually are not covered by few other health insurance. You might receive long-term health care in a nursing home or even in your own sweet home. Long-term health care could be extremely expensive. On average, a year in a nursing home costs about $40,000. In some regions, it might cost much more. Home care is actually less expensive, but it still adds up. (Home care could include part-time skilled nursing care, speech therapy, physical or other occupational therapy, home health aides, and homemakers.) Bringing an aide into your home just three times a week—to assist with dressing, bathing, preparing meals, and few similar chores—easily can cost $1,000 a month, or $12,000 a year. Add in the cost of skilled help, such as physical therapy, and the costs could be even greater. Most long-term health care policies pay a pre-fixed dollar amount, usually from $40 to more than $200 a day, for each day you will get covered health care in a nursing home. The daily health benefit for at-home care is generally half the benefit for home nursing health care. Because the per-day health benefit you purchase today may be insufficient to cover higher costs in the future, most health policies also offer a price raises adjustment feature. Keep in mind that unless you have a long-term health insurance policy, you are not covered for long-term health care expenses under Medicare and with most other types of health insurance. Recent changes in federal law might permit you to take certain income tax deductions for some long-term health care policy expenses and insurance premiums. Disability health insurance policy provides you with an income if illness or injury prevents you from being able to work for an extended period of time. It is a significant but frequently overlooked form of health insurance. There are other potential sources of income if you are disabled. Social Security provides good protection, but only to those who are severely disabled and also unable to work at all; workers compensation provides benefits if the illness or any injury is work-related; civil service disability covers federal or the state government workers; and automobile health insurance policy might pay benefits if the disability results from an automobile accident. But these sources are limited. Some employers offer short- and long-term health insurance disability coverage. If you are self-employed, you could purchase individual disability income insurance policies. Generally: • Monthly benefits are generally 60 percent of your income
at the time of purchase, even though cost-of-living adjustments might
be available. • Some health policies pay benefits only if someone is unable
to carry out the duties of their usual occupation, as others pay only
if the person could engage in no gainful employment at all. Make certain
that you know the health insurer’s meaning of disability. A Final Word If you get health care coverage at work, or through a trade or professional association or even by a union, you are almost certainly enrolled under a group contract. Usually, group health insurance is between the group and your insurer, and your employer has done comparison shopping before offering the health insurance plan to the employees. Nevertheless, while some employers only offer one health insurance plan, some offer more than one health insurance plan. Compare health insurance plans carefully! If you are buying individual health insurance policy, or any form of health insurance that you are purchasing directly, read and compare the health insurance policies you are considering before you buy one, and make definite you understand all of the provisions. Marketing or sales literature is no substitute for the actual health insurance policy. Read the health policy itself before you buy. Ask for a summary of each health insurance policy’s benefits or an outline of health coverage. Good agents and good health insurance companies desire you to know what you are buying. Don’t be afraid to ask your health insurance benefits manager or insurance agent to explain anything, which is unclear. And bear in mind: In some cases, even after you buy an health insurance policy, if you find that it doesn’t meet your actual needs, you may have 30 days to return the health insurance policy and get your money back. This is called the "free look."
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