Medical costs are higher than ever so it becomes mandatory to have health insurance that can protect you from what might happen in the future. Unforeseen medical emergencies can easily cripple your financial status and unfortunately, it is not at all easy to choose a good plan to be on. There are countless very good deals offered by top providers like US Health Group but in order to find those that are truly good, you need to know how to protect yourself from the bad ones.
The advice below will help you to choose a much better health insurance policy by simply avoiding the most common mistakes people make due to a lack of knowledge about the subject.
Not Doing Enough Research
In most cases, the first health insurance policy is bought in a hurry, usually without much research. This means that people do not understand terms and conditions before they agree to a plan. There is no comparison done so that the best policies can be found. You need to learn as much as possible about anything associated with what you will need. For instance, if you want 2 policies, you need to learn how secondary insurance works.
Buying the very first health insurance policy you find on the internet can be the worst mistake you will ever make. You have to go through rigorous research as you choose the best policy.
As an example, if you have 2 children or more, you have to choose the floater plan for families. The individual plan is not advantageous.
Take all the time you need to understand probable medical expenditures. You have to think about the future and you need to find the policy that is capable of fulfilling your future probable expenses.
Not Getting Enough Coverage
In order to choose your health insurance policy, you surely think about premium costs as being a vital aspect to take into account. This is normal but so many choose coverage plans with sub-optimal coverage in order to reduce the premium. As a result, they end up with a highly restricted coverage. This leads to the unwanted situation in which you still need to pay a lot out of your pockets as the medical emergency appears.
Never only take into account premiums as you make your final choice. You have to also consider medical history, hospitalization expenses, expected expenses, family size, and even flexibility. As you look at the deal that is offered by the insurer, determine if the coverage is adequate for you by thinking about the following:
- Hospitalization expenses – Will the health insurance policy cover hospitalization costs or not? Expenses that should be covered include ICU charges, doctor fees, diagnostic tests, surgery charges, and hospital room rent.
- Other hospitalization expenses – The best health insurance plan for you will reimburse medical expenses that happened up to 60 days after and before hospitalization. In fact, some extend this period to 90 days. You should opt for a minimum of 30 days.
- Health check-ups – Yearly preventive check-ups help us catch diseases before they become very difficult to treat. So, your insurance should include health check-up costs.
- Waiting periods – For some diseases, the insurance plan will specify a specific waiting period that can be as high as 4 years.
Not Providing Accurate Medical History
Never conceal your true medical history as you apply for health insurance. Many do this as they fear they will end up rejected or with higher premiums. The problem is that when you hide lifestyle habits (including something like smoking) and your medical history, when you file your insurance claim, you can end up being denied.
While it is true that you might end up with a higher premium when you disclose some medical conditions, this is what you have to do if you want to be protected.
Not Looking At The Small Print
Every single person that talks about insurance of any kind mentions the small print but most people still fail to actually look at it. The insurance company is required by law to explain all exclusions and inclusions. However, it is also your responsibility to actually pay attention to the contract you sign. You can end up with really high costs if you neglect the list of exclusions.
Keep in mind that health insurance plans have a free-look period attached (usually 15 days). This is the period in which you are allowed to carefully review the insurance policy. You can thus buy only after you fully understand even the small details included. You can cancel your contract if some clauses are unacceptable. The insurance firm will be forced to refund how much you pay if the cancelation happened during the free period.
Only Buying Health Insurance When You Are Old
There is this wrong widespread belief that health insurance is only for older people. If you have this belief, you can make the huge mistake of not buying a health insurance policy as you are younger.
Remember that nobody can predict if you will have a medical emergency or not. If you are young and you are not covered, your entire wealth can end up being lost in a very short time. Unforeseen medical emergencies can be much more expensive to deal with than you might believe right now.
Several policies exist for people under 45 years old. And they are very easy to get. Usually, the premium payment is quite low and you have the huge advantage of covering policy minimal trigger time, which is how much you need to wait before coverage for some conditions and diseases becomes active.
Final Thoughts
Never underestimate the importance of health insurance and getting the coverage that you actually need. Opting for a random policy can only lead to huge problems in the future. Take all the time you need to find the best policy for you right now when you do not have medical problems to deal with. When you are hit by medical emergencies it will be too late.
Take full advantage of technology and whenever you do not understand something about health insurance, simply ask someone who can help you or look for answers on the internet through articles written by high authority authors.