Archive for May 2009
Health Insurance – Options Galore
May 29, 2009 | 
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Looking for a way to avoid your exorbitant medical bills? A low-cost health insurance plan could be your savior. In California, health insurance policies are available in plenty, with varying features and costs.
There are a variety of health insurance options in California, for individuals, students and groups.
1. It has often been observed that employee health insurance plans offer the most cost-effective insurance for workers. The self-employed, unemployed and those working in companies that do not offer such benefits can be covered under the individual plans. Although limited in their coverage, they can usually be extended to the family.
2. Students could go to private companies for off-campus facilities.
3. A full time employee can qualify for a group insurance. A variety of plans may be offered and the employer may pay many of your expenses. Moreover, you can enroll regardless of your health history. However, they are less flexible in terms of coverage, so the private option is preferred.
The three options for California health insurance coverage include Health Maintenance Organization (HMO), Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) and Point of Service POS. The first manages your treatment based on prepaid fees. The second allows its members to seek the services of out-of-network providers, but at an additional fee. The POS plans attempt to limit out-of-pocket costs and also allow their members to see out-of network providers although this may entail greater expenditure as you have to pay 20% of your care costs in addition to your deductible amount.
A large number of companies advertise their policies online. Low-cost quotes can be obtained from them through a fast and convenient procedure. Results shall be tailored to suit your specific requirements. The monthly premium amount shall depend on a number of factors such as your age, gender, health history-present and pre-existing conditions, location and so on. Your budget is an important aspect you need to consider. Compare and analyze the benefits you can derive from the different policies. You should not choose a policy which does not fulfill your requirements even if it is available at a very attractive price. The plan should meet your health and budget requirements without compromising on the quality of customer service.
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The Benefits of Group Health Insurance
Group Health Insurance is a benefit that some companies offer their employees, enabling them to receive private medical treatment quickly and at no cost should they need it. This means that employees receive the medical treatment they need without the long wait and undue suffering.
Of course, this type of scheme has many benefits to both the staff and the employer.
For the employer, a member of staff needing medical treatment will receive it quickly, thereby helping speed up recovery and keeping disruption due to sickness in the office to a minimum. The employee will also be more focussed on their job as they will not be spending time worrying about a long wait for the treatment on the NHS, or a diagnosis etc or suffering undue pain.
For the employee, being a member of a Group Health Insurance plan has many valuable benefits, which a monetary value cannot be put on. In the first instance, they don’t have to pay out huge premiums for a private medical insurance plan – which can literally run into three figures every month. And they have the peace of mind that should they need it, expert medical help is available immediately.
As part of the Group Health Insurance Plan, many companies who do offer this benefit to staff will also pay for their employees to have a once a year ‘healthcheck’ at a private hospital. These health checks cover weight, height, levels of fitness, blood pressure, blood tests etc and are carried out to check that the member of staff is in optimum health or to spot a so far undiagnosed condition. Either way, the screening is beneficial to staff and their employers.
For an individual who is not part of an employers scheme to have the same sort of health screening, the cost can be anything from ?150 upwards, so there is an added value to the benefit.
Any staff benefit, like company health insurance, of course also helps boost staff morale as it shows that the employer really cares about their staff.
Although health plans will vary from provider to provider and employer to employer, a typical Group Health Insurance package will offer cover for:
1. In-patient and day-patient treatment once the employee has received a diagnosis
2. Out-patient treatments (for example, physiotherapy)
3. Free Helplines – for example, a GP Helpline and Stress Counselling Helpline.
4. Specialist consultations following a referral from the employee’s GP
If you are an employer who has not yet instigated a company health insurance plan, consider this – you may find that the benefits of taking out group health insurance (such as better staff morale, employees having less time off due to serious illness, attracting a higher qualified level of staff etc) will far outweigh the cost. And in the long term, no doubt it will have a positive effect on your business.
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Tags: Health Checks, Healthcheck, Medical Insurance Plan, Monetary Value, Private Medical Insurance, Staff Morale | 
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Changes in Health Law: Does It Influence Health Insurance?
Millions of people have benefited from changes in health laws during health reform era. Among the prominent changes in the health law, the ability of individuals aged less than 26 years to rejoin health plans of their parent’s health care plan. With these changes in health laws, several options have opened up while at the same time requiring wise evaluation of different health insurance choices. Following are some of the considerations in selection of a health insurance.
-Discover available choices
For a graduate aged 26 or lower there are three good means of availing health insurance coverage. One may choose to go with his or her parent’s plans, be covered under employers insurance, or choose to buy a health insurance policy an individual policy.
-Take you current health conditions in consideration
Drop the idea of individual health plan should you suffer from chronic health conditions such as asthma, diabetes, a heart condition, or bipolar disorder. Moreover, personal or individual health policies are underwritten individually. What it implies is that an individual policy is good to have at young age. Needless to mention, with chronic medical conditions the individual health insurance could be prohibitively expensive. Under certain circumstance, especially for individual under medications or requiring regular medications, its availability itself could be uncertain.
Group insurance coverage or employer’s health insurance has a specific disadvantage. In case of an employer’s insurance usually, regardless of your health consideration, the premium paid is same across the group. Conversely, if you have a health condition, group insurance could be a great deal. Hence, younger individual with good health should choose to have individual plan as the cost of owning an individual health plan is likely to be lesser.
-Not All Health Insurance Plans Are Same
It is very important to know that each health insurance plan is different. While some plans provide sweeping coverage, and some small co-payments, there are other plans that may impose conditions or require higher upfront payments. Hence, it is essential to keep a tab on different available plans in the market. The cost of health insurance generally depends on a few factors including premiums, cost of prescriptions, co-payments, deductible, and if policy under consideration covers all kinds of health conditions.
-Evaluate Different Options
It is essential that you carefully evaluate different health insurance options. Sometimes it is a good idea to create a grid-based comparison of different insurance plans. Creating a grid can help you compare different insurance plans based of parameters. It is a good idea to consider factors such as premiums, prescriptions, co-payments, deductibles, and estimated cost of services not covered under the insurance. However, this is not an exhaustive list. If you are not sure of methods of estimation use your best guess.
While it may not be possible for you think of all the parameters at once this exercise will surely help you know different important aspect that you would otherwise have not thought of. Moreover, with this exercise you are sure to make a wise decision.
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Posted in Insurance | Tags: Current Health, Group Insurance Coverage, Health Insurance Coverage, Health Laws, Health Reform, Influence Health | No Comments »