Buying Private Doctor and Hospital Protection Is It Really Insurance?

By DerrikKyle on March 10, 2010, 9:21 pm

A critical thing you should do when shopping for private health coverage is to make sure that the company offering you a policy actually offers health care coverage.  Many companies that offer discount plans do everything they can to look like an insurance carrier.The best way to be certain that you are dealing with an actual insurance carrier is to contact your state’s department of insurance.  They can tell you which companies are approved to sell personal physician and hospitalization coverage in your state.Buying Physician and Hospitalization Assurance OnlineOften the website that gives you prices will be an independent broker’s web site.  You may enter some general information on that website such as your age and zip code.  It should not be a cause for alarm if the quoting site isn’t actually the insurance carrier’s.  However, when you have decided on a policy to acquire, you should be redirected to the health insurance carrier’s website and it should be encrypted.  In most browsers, there will be a picture of a closed lock in the bottom right hand when you are on a secure site.  Also encrypted web sites will have urls that start with https instead of http.Choosing The Right DeductibleWhen comparing prices you will often find that low deductible policies are overpriced.  You will usually save enough with a moderate or a high deductible policy to make it worth your while to take on the additional risk.One illuminating way to compare policies is to look at the overall costs associated with two or three possible scenarios.  What is important is the total cost you will pay when you add up the cost for the policy and the cost for the uncovered medical care  expenses.  You will want to see how each policy will perform when you have a year with minimal health care costs.  You will also want to see how each policy will perform in a year when you have major medical care costs.  To see how a given policy will perform in different situations, add up the annualized cost and the costs of any deductible, co-pays and coinsurance you might pay in each situation.  This will give you your total costs.  Often people who were committed to a low deductible medical insurance policy will change their minds quickly.  They may find that there is no situation where the low deductible policy performs better.Another important factor is the availability of doctors.  Before making a final decision about purchasing a policy, you should make sure that your doctor is in the network.  Often larger health insurance companies will have different networks for different plans, so to make sure you should check by plan and not by company if necessary.The Network Is ImportantIf the doctor you like is not part of the network associated with a particular policy and you don’t want to switch doctors, you may want to look other plans or carriers.  This is because your carrier will probably fail to reimburse you for expenses incurred with non-network doctors or will reimburse you poorly.If you have two homes, check the network in both areas.  This is applicable for snow birds as well as for university students.  However, this should not be a large consideration unless you expect to have routine visits away from your primary residence.  If you are traveling and need emergency care you will probably find that your policy will treat the expense as if it was incurred in network.  You should be able to check your policy’s outline of coverage to see how emergency care is treated before you purchase an individual and family health coverage if you are concerned about this issue.Final Thoughts on Buying Family Health Care AssuranceBuying Private Healthcare assurance should be done thoughtfully.  Being uninsured for a costly illness or trauma can wipe out your savings very quickly.  Paying too much every month can reduce the amount you are able to save.

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