›› Health Insurance
Few things are as
important as health insurance. Many countries have what is called
“single payer” healthcare. Health insurance for
everyone comes out of taxes. If you get sick, you are automatically
covered. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way in America. Without
health insurance, a serious but treatable illness could be a death
sentence. This is why it is important to always be insured.
I knew someone who was traveling overseas. She was young and in good
health, and figured she didn't need health insurance – she
had scarcely been sick a day in her life. She was in South America,
when she started to feel nausea, and dizzy spells. At first she ignored
them, but they soon grew worse. She returned to the United States and
went to a doctor, and discovered that she had cancer. A doctor's visit,
combined with a battery of tests can, by its self, cost hundreds of
dollars. Treatment for cancer can run into the thousands, or even the
tens or hundreds of thousands easily. She was unable to afford this
kind of expense, and grew sick and eventually passed away. It was a
tragic and avoidable death – if she had been insured, things
might have turned out much differently.
There are several different kinds of health insurance. The most
traditional kind is called a Fee-For-Service plan. It has the advantage
of giving you a greater range of choices than any other health care
plan – you can go to any doctor you want to. You pay a
monthly premium, and also have a deductible, perhaps $250 or $500. This
is the amount of medical expenses which you have to pay in any given
year before your insurance takes effect. After that, it pays a majority
of further medical expense while you pay a small portion, often around
20%.
Another type is called the HMO or Health Management Organization. An
HMO has a staff of doctors, often in one or several central locations,
which it requires all of its patients to go to. Although you don't have
nearly the number of choices you do with a fee-for-service plan, your
health costs will be much lower. There is a small fee charged for each
visit to a doctor, but most other costs are covered by your insurance.
Most professionals are insured through their jobs. Their bosses are
able to buy insurance at group rates, which saves money, and so they
can offer their employees cheaper insurance than they could purchase on
their own. Unfortunately, the way health insurance is set up can cause
serious problems for an employee who develops a serious or chronic
condition. If they wish to leave the company, they will not be able to
find new insurance to cover them, because of their pre-existing
condition. Other insurers will not want to cover them, because their
condition means that their healthcare costs are likely to be higher
than the amount of money which they pay for coverage. Therefore, they
may because of their illness, be unable to leave their company, even if
their job is unsatisfying.
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A Healthy Dose of Good Advice
