Main reasons for getting supplemental health insurance

Main reasons for getting supplemental health insurance

Lainey Aguilar

Health insurance usually doesn’t cover every medical expense. Additional costs like deductibles, co-payments, and coinsurance are not a part of many health insurance plans. To cover these costs and minimize your expenditure, you could consider a supplemental health insurance plan.

You can choose from a wide range of supplemental health insurance policies. Some of include disability, dental, vision, hospital, accident, long-term care, vision, dental, hospital, accident, disability, long-term care, and Medigap (offered by private companies to people who are already enrolled in Medicare). There are some plans for food, transportation, and other expenses related to an illness. Some supplemental health insurance plans also cover specific conditions like cancer or kidney failure.

So, does that mean you should buy one? Let’s find out.

Who should buy a supplemental health insurance plan?
While you might feel secure and well-insured with your health insurance plan, invariably there are so many gaps in most plans that you will have to cover. So, despite being covered, you still end up spending a huge sum of money on medical costs sometimes. It has been found that 62% of all personal bankruptcies in the country can be attributed to medical expenses. And these high costs are incurred by both the uninsured and the insured.

Rising costs are only going to widen the gap that exists between your insurance plan and expenses. These reasins warrant the need for a supplemental health insurance plan.

Your savings can’t cover your deductibles and other expenses
You might want to look into the annual deductibles on your insurance plan as it can be as high as $1000. Moreover, the out-of-pocket limits on some plans go up to $6500. If you were to compare this to your savings bank balance, would you feel confident about meeting these expenses?

Many people in the country can’t even pay $1000 for a medical emergency. So, they either max out their credit cards, borrow from friends and family, or top up their existing loans. Supplemental health insurance can cover all of these expenses and lift a huge burden off your chest.

You have children and keep very busy
Juggling between a career, your family, and other commitments can take a huge toll on your health. Imagine falling sick or having an accident when trying to keep up with life! It can have a bigger impact on you financially than maybe even your medical expenses. For overall financial support, you might want to add a supplemental health insurance plan to your medical investments.

You don’t have much saved
If you’re living from paycheck to paycheck. Having to pay insurance deductibles and other expenses related to accident, injury, or illness is simply unaffordable to you. You need a cover, and that can be a supplemental health insurance policy.

Before you decide to proceed with a plan, it is advisable to do some thurough deliberation. While you might find extra coverage, you need to ask yourself whether the extra cost of incurring a supplemental plan is even worth it.

You need to assess whether you currently have a health plan that will cover costs associated with a serious injury or illness. Also, ask yourself if there is a way for you to make up for out-of-pocket expenses incurred under this plan. If you’re injured or you fall sick, will you be able to subsist without going to work? Will the cost of buying a new supplemental health insurance plan even make sense in the years to come? Sometimes, it is more sensible to simply save the funds yourself instead. So, make sure you gauge your situation, analyze the policy, and then take a call.

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