ARE YOU REALLY ADEQUATELY INSURED?

Being adequately insured is a difficult question that may be answered differently by each family involved and may consider each individual case by itself.

Income, life style and job stability all contribute to the transparency of the above concept. Even so, a growing body of research documents point out that both health-related and financial problems can arise when health insurance doesn’t cover enough and it’s a fact that rates of medical debt are growing, chiefly among the insured.

Data suggests that one in five privately insured Americans with chronic conditions live in families with medical bill problems which constitutes an increase from 16 percent in 2003.

When dol health expenses reach a tipping point to alter family finances? If out of pocket expenditures for medical care exceed 2.5 percent of family expenses then you can consider a red flag is raised and it may be a substantial problem.

Even if you consider opposites, those with adequate insurance face burdens even if it’s on a more manageable level than those uninsured or inadequately insured. You may ask why is this?

Being insured does not mean having adequate insurance. There is a misconception that if you have health insurance, most if not all your medical bills will be taken care of.

Everybody who has gone through extensive claim procedures knows it’s not true, especially after you consider deductibles, co-insurance and co-pays.

The problem is that knowing whether insurance provides adequate coverage can be quite a challenge as

Health insurance policies are products of high complexity and variable by design. Basic information about how benefits work are usually not disclosed during selling, be it the agent or the company.

If you take a thorough look at a policy you may even consider that they are purposely intended to not be understood. That’s easy to understand if you consider that the business model of Health Insurance companies is based on not paying claims, or at the least, minimizing payments.

Then comes the intangible, health insurance promises protection against future, unknown events, which are really abstract for a healthy family until a major catastrophe ensues.

Bottom of the line, the protection a policy offers is directly related to the policy purchased and an insured person who becomes seriously ill might have to pay thousands or tens of thousands of dollars out-of-pocket for needed care. For many middle class American families this can represent the difference between health security and financial catastrophe.

One of the most important errors prospective shoppers for insurance make is comparing prices as if it were produce. Price is not a synonym of quality and there are numerous factors you have to consider. All policies are not created equally and reliably sometimes cannot be compared.

Affordability of health insurance premiums cannot be considered independently of the adequacy of coverage health insurance provides.

Considering the above, an independent health insurance agent is a valuable asset to the consumer, but that said, there are unscrupulous health agents out there who only care for commissions and do not share your interests.

In a perfect world, Health insurance should be honest and transparent, so that consumers know what they are getting..

Even though economists teach that a well functioning market requires honesty and transparency so that both buyers and sellers can understand and evaluate options, this is only in an utopian world, that’s why the rate of dropped policies is so high, averaging at most two years on the books.

About the Author:

Arturo Meneses is the author of this article on Health Insurance. Find more information about Affordable Orlando Health Insurance here.