Should I get catastrophic health insurance?
Let’s face it. Not everybody can be that lucky. That’s why even when you don’t want to bother, or can’t afford, to pay monthly medical health insurance premiums, you have to come up with some sort of compromise. The kind of person that tends to get catastrophic health insurance, which has lower monthly costs but covers much less than regular health insurance plans, tends to be either in their twenties or between the age of fifty and sixty five. Younger insured tend towards catastrophic health insurance because they are often either employed by a company that does not offer medical health insurance coverage, or are self-employed.
As for the other group that tends to get catastrophic health insurance instead of the regular, they are usually past the time in life in which they go in for medical check ups and are instead more preoccupied with major things that can come with age, like heart attacks and strokes. They’re usually only go in for a check up when they need to, and would rather make that a rare visit than have to pay more money for health insurance payments.
Catastrophic health insurance can even be bought through your employer, although most people who get it do so on their own. People who have already retired like to get catastrophic health insurance plans during the time that they are waiting to be of age to be eligible for Medicare. If a company employs more than one thousand people, catastrophic health insurance will be among the plans that it offers, usually.
Catastrophic health insurance plans do avoid customers who already had a condition when they bought the plan. If you have a disease such as AIDS or cancer, you probably won’t be eligible for such a plan, because, obviously, if you have to go to the hospital it won’t really be a catastrophe–more like business as usual.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Catastrophic health insurance and high health insurance deductible
Reader questions:
Could you explain the high deductible plans of catastrophic health insurance?
Amy
Absolutely.
There are two major things that you must consider before you decide to get a catastrophic health insurance plan. The first is that you will only be covered for major hospital visits, and will have to pay for everything else out of pocket. The other major thing is that any catastrophic health insurance plan will come with a higher deductible than the usual medical health insurance plan, so you will at any time have to be ready to take onto your own wallet much higher costs than usual, even if you are paying cheaper monthly premiums.
How high is it? Should you choose to get a catastrophic health insurance plan, you’re going to be looking at deductibles of around $500, possibly even more than that. Besides that, if you get a catastrophic health insurance plan, there will usually be a lifetime maximum coverage of between two and three million, and if you should reach this maximum coverage point, then you will no longer be covered and your policy will be canceled.
If you do have a $500 deductible, you’re going to have to pay for everything up to and including five hundred dollars. Once your medical expenses go past that, your coverage starts. Even if you have a deductible as high as $15,000, and you have to get some kind of treatment that costs ten thousand, you will have to pay for it. Now you can see why even with its cheaper monthly cost, catastrophic health insurance can be more expensive than most other types of plans.
When major medical costs are spoken of as regarding catastrophic health insurance, pregnancy is not included. So if you’re thinking of getting catastrophic health insurance just because pregnancy is indeed major medical care and involves a hospital, don’t fool yourself.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
What is catastrophic health insurance?
Reader question:
What is catastrophic health insurance, and who is it good for?
Grant
I’m glad you asked that.
Many people find themselves unable to afford health insurance because of the high monthly premiums, and for this reason feel hesitant to go to the hospital even in an emergency case. There are forty five million people in the United States who do not have any kind of medical health insurance. And it is absolutely necessary to have full medical health insurance so that you can get regular check ups, prescriptions, and preventive care, but we have to face the truth that some people just can’t.
So what does a person in this situation do? Well, they don’t absolutely have to get a full medical health insurance plan. If a person finds that they work for a company with no health insurance plans, is not able to afford health insurance coverage, or just doesn’t want to pony up the money for it, there is still the option for catastrophic health insurance. This is also sometimes called a major medical plan, a type of health insurance plan with a more specific focus than most.
What catastrophic health insurance is, is a type of medical health insurance plan that requires higher deductibles but at the same time, the monthly payments are a lot smaller. The catch is that it covers a whole lot less than your average medical health insurance plan. You end up paying yourself for your check ups and drugs, while the catastrophic health insurance plan will only cover major hospital visits.
Catastrophic health insurance will provide coverage for most hospital stuff, from the cost of your stay to X Rays and lab tests. If you feel that you are able to afford routine visits, but need something to fall back on for the more expensive medical situations, catastrophic health insurance is for you. It is also a good option for people who would otherwise not be able to afford any kind of health insurance.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
