Health Insurance

Health Insurance

You’re probably covered by group health insurance by your employer, but if you’re not, you can buy individual coverage that will meet your needs – at a higher cost.

How much you need: At a minimum, you should buy a catastrophic policy that protects you from serious and financially disastrous losses that can result from all illness or injury. You need to factor in how much you must absorb in deductibles and co-payments.

What your options are: Even if you buy a comprehensive policy that covers most medical, hospital, surgical, and pharmaceutical bills, it won’t cover everything. You may need additional single-purpose coverage. You may want a Medicare supplement policy to fill in the gaps in your Medicare coverage if you are over 65. Private insurance offer “MediSup” specifically to cover Medicare co-payments and deductibles. Some also cover outpatient prescription drugs. Hospital indemnity insurance pays you can benefits for each day you are hospitalized, up to a designated number of days. The money can be used to meet out-of pocket medical co-payments or any other need. Specified disease policies – usually for cancer – are not available in every state. Even so, benefits are limited.

Depending on your age and circumstances, a long-term care policy might be a good idea. This type of policy covers the cost of custodial care either in a nursing home or in your own home. The Health Insurance Association of America estimates that nursing home care costs dozens of thousands of dollars per year, depending on where you live. Having someone in your home three days a week to care for you can cost much. If those kinds of expenses make you shudder, a long-term care policy can offer some relief. But remember this: If you are 65, there’s slightly more than a 60 percent chance you’ll never collect anything from a long-term care policy.

Health Insurance. Illustration: Elena

What to watch out for: You can reduce your premiums by opting for a large deductible – you will pay the entire amount due up to a certain limit. You may be able to save more by enrolling in a managed care plan, such as a health maintenance organization (HMO).

If you have a problem getting insurance because of a pre-existing condition, find out if your state is one of the growing number that have risk Pools, which provide insurance for people who can’t get it elsewhere.

Keep in mind that you can usually earn substantial premium discounts from insurers simply by doing things such as supplying a copy of your tax return at application time or pre-paying a few years’ premium up first.

How we die: More than half the death in the United States stem from heart disease or cancer. Causes of death in the US:

• Heart disease – around 35%
• Cancer – around 20%
• Cerebrovascular disease – around 7%
• Influenza and Pneumonia – 3%
• Diabetes – 2%
• Diseases of arteries, arteriole – 2%
• Chronic liver disease/cirrhosis
• Total natural causes – around 93%.
• Motor vehicle accidents – around 2%
• Suicide – around 1%
• Homicide – around 1%
• Other accidents – around 3%.
• Total external causes – around 7%.