Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Your other healthcare options

By Jeff Cline

Limitations on health plans should be understood, so you know when you need the other options availible to you like Travel medical Insurance, temporary health insurance and Gap health insurance.

Temporary Health Insurance is not the same as short term health insurance.

Short term health insurance is really designed to provide basic major medical benefits for a SHORT ammount of known time. An example would be if you have started a new job, and you know your benefits do not start for 90 days, you buy 90 days worth of SHORT TERM HEALTH INSURANCE, typicall pay for all 90 days in advance and may have the option to renew 1 time depending on the carrier. So Short term is really designed for a know ammount of time, that an individual or family will be with out health insurance.

Temporary Health Insurance is designed for individuals that need coverage right away but have no idea how long they will need it, as it is designed to be more of a month to month type of protection until you get in your permanate plan.

International Travel medical insurance is great to understand because many traditional plans do not cover you internationally or may call it out-of-network and give you reduced benefits. Travel medical insurance also includes other benefits like evacuation, lost pasport, translation and many other benefits a international traveler needs.

G.A.P Coverage is designed to pick up the slack where your traditional plan leaves off, like the deductible, co-pays and other items not covered by your insurance carrier like Wigs for cancer patients, traveling to a hospital with better facilities for your condition and a place for a loved one to stay while with you in your time of need.

How to save money on health insurance is often misunderstood, so we are going to give you something to think about when it comes to buying a individual health insurance plan or a family health insurance plan. 0ver 90 % of Americans do not meet there deductible, however almost all have a low deductible because they are affraid of a high deductible was ever reached. Your health insurance company and agent BOTH fule that fear in hopes that you buy the LOWER DEDUCTIBLE because the lower it goes the more they both make. IN fact some even market the low deductibles only for pure greed. Why base a large factor of your plan choice decision on something that only has a 10% chance of mattering anyhow? Something else you need to know, is if you do have a to pay a high deductible it will mostlikley be to a hospital or doctor who typicall will work out a payment plan for your outstanding bills over time so why PAY NOW for a feature you only have a 10% chance of using when you can just pay a little more if indeed you do have to. There is no reason to give the health insurance company any more that you have to.

Just like 101 flavors of ice cream, not every carrier or plan fits all that is why there are more insurance companies that ice cream companies. - 15275

About the Author: