Understanding Supplemental Health Insurance
Standard health insurance helps you and your family pay the costs of medical care. But standard health insurance is not without limitation and that’s where supplemental health insurance can help.
Here is some insightful information about supplemental health insurance that will help you determine if it is right for your family:
What is supplemental health insurance?
Supplemental health insurance is a type of insurance policy that plugs coverage gaps in your regular health insurance. Purchasing a supplemental policy will help cover these gaps, which include deductibles, co-payments and additional expenses not covered by regular health insurance.
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Basic supplemental medical plans also can provide fixed benefits for covered preventive medical care. For situations involving a critical condition, policies exist that offer to help pay out-of-pocket expenses for heart attacks, strokes, cancer and a variety of other illnesses.
Nearly any condition can be covered under a supplemental policy, according to AARP. The barrier to choosing a type of coverage is cost. What are you willing to pay for these types of additional coverage?
Medicare and supplemental health insurance
While everyone can benefit from a supplemental health insurance policy, some need it more than others. If you are self-employed, have children, are on Medicare or know you cannot manage the financial impact of significant work loss due to illness or injury, supplemental health insurance is essential.
What do supplemental health insurance policies cover?
Supplemental health insurance policies cover a variety of expenses. For example, some supplementary policies pay a cash benefit to help pay bills during periods of lost work. Others help cover treatment associated with cancer and other critical conditions, such as heart attack and stroke.
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A disability that causes work loss is one of the leading causes of family bankruptcy in the U.S. Most regular health insurance plans will cover medical expenses but not expenses associated with work loss. These costs may be covered by a supplemental health insurance policy known as a “Disability” policy).
Older Americans are all too familiar with the costs of long-term care treatment. A supplemental health insurance policy known as a “Long-Term Care” policy) will cover costs for a nursing home stay as well as services for assisted living and home medical care.
First step to purchasing supplemental health insurance
There are many different types of supplemental health insurance policies for many different conditions. Understanding the gaps in your regular health insurance policy is the first step to knowing what type or types of supplemental health insurance policies are right for you and your family.
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