About Health Insurance
By Marcos Otero
Happy NEW YEAR!
I hope the future is filled with love, joy, prosperity, most importantly Health. During the last several years we have seen the cost of medicine rise greatly. It is so heartbreaking when I see a patient who has no insurance. Let’s talk about health insurance.
Many choose not to buy insurance because of cost but do you realize the cost if you are sick.
According to HealthCare.gov: Not having insurance “can sometimes lead people without coverage into deep debt or even into bankruptcy. It’s easy to underestimate how much medical care can cost: Fixing a broken leg can cost up to $7,500. The average cost of a 3-day hospital stay is around $30,000.”
That is one stay with a simple problem. What happens to something that requires several days of hospitalization and surgeries? I had a patient show me a bill of almost one half million dollars.
The question is can you afford to be without insurance?
Having insurance protects you from the high medical cost in two ways.
- It reduces what you must pay out of pocket after you have paid the yearly deductible. Each plan has different deductibles. The deductible is that amount which you must pay before the insurance begins to pay the agreed upon percentage. This means that even though you pay premiums every month – you must meet a certain limit before the insurance starts to take effect. This is like a deductible on car insurance. Except that in health insurance the deductibles are cumulative.
- Out of pocket maximum. This is the total amount you must pay no matter how much covered care you receive during the year.
Remember that the plan covers one year. That means that every new year the deductible amount starts all over and you must again meet the deductible required.
Like car insurance, there are different levels of health insurance. The lower your premium the higher the deductible. The lower the copay the higher the premium. The more services covered the higher the premium. Therefore, plan per your budget and health.
There are many insurance brokers that can give you more info and in much more depth.
For more information read Seguro Medico.
