What does catastrophic health insurance cover?
Reader question:
What does catastrophic health insurance cover?
Lou
Good question.
Just because catastrophic health insurance seems very straight forward, don’t automatically assume that there is only one type of coverage available. In fact, depending on what company you go with and what type of catastrophic health insurance plan that you choose, the coverage varies and is not straight forward at all, so you should look very closely at youtr choices before making a sudden decision.
One company is the Blue Cross Shield in Florida, and it is a Florida health insurance company that has a catastrophic health insurance plan that it calls Essential. The deductible for Essential is around $250, and there is a maximum limit for expenses you pay of ten times that much. Once you have reached that limit, the company starts paying for your medical coverage until you reach the cap of one million dollars. It only covers things that involve your physical health, and hospital expenses such as emergencies and X-rays. Childbirth and drugs and check ups are not on that list.
If you got your catastrophic health insurance plan through Blue Cross Shield, then you could be paying a monthly premium as low as thirty dollars.
Another example is Golden Rule Insurance Company, the lowest deductible of which is $500 and the highest is $5,000. It covers about the same things as the Florida health insurance company, and it also does not cover the same things as they do. For Golden Rule, though, obviously the deductible costs a bit more, but at the same time the lifetime cap is much more, topping out at three million dollars. The catastrophic health insurance plan offered by Golden Rule is called Basic Plan, and it does cover things like MRI and surgery.
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.