What is health insurance?
Health insurance is an insurance cover that will protect you from having to pay medical costs. You pay premiums and your insurance company guarantees to take care of any medical bills due to illness or accidents.
What does it cover?
Depending on your health insurance cover, it will take care of things like regular checkups, major medical expenses, emergency room visits among others. You need to know what your cover has as an exclusion because things like a chiropractor, MRI, dental surgery, optical care, and pre-existing conditions may be part of the exclusions.
How does it work?
This depends on the type of insurance cover you have taken, some will take care of your medical costs and other major medical expenses, but it all depends on the amount of premium you pay, and the type of plan you have taken. Some insurance companies will require you to meet part of the cost through co-insurance, co-pays, and deductibles. It is important that you understand what this means to the overall insurance cost.
Why is Health insurance important?
It is often not possible to predict when one will get ill, and you will require to pay for the medical expenses during some emergency situations like accidents which can be very costly especially if you will need surgery or long hospital stays. Health insurance will help you manage all these costs, letting you rest easy during the recovery period because you do not have to think about how you will pay the bills.
How much does it cost?
This depends on the type of cover you have taken. If you have an employer plan, it will be cheaper because all you need to do is contribute into the employer’s plan, but if you are taking private insurance, then this is markedly different because you have to take on the whole cost. Other factors to consider include where you live and the type of plan you have taken.
On average be prepared to spend anywhere $150 to $400 per month.
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Are there tax benefits to health insurance?
If you are self-employed, health insurance is tax deductible, but if your family members are under another plan then you cannot deduct those premiums from your taxes. If you make contributions to health savings account through your employer, you can make it tax deductible but only up to a certain level.
What is the benefit of using an employer’s health insurance plan?
The law requires that employers who have more than 50 workers provide health insurance for their workers. This means that the employer pays a part of your health insurance while you also contribute some amount to it. The deduction is made from your paycheck. However, not everyone is comfortable with the employers cover and some may prefer to take a private cover as an addition.
If your employer does not provide health cover, you can apply for subsidized coverage by using the state’s health care marketplace.
