Why Do I Need to Have Health Insurance?
Webster defines insurance as: coverage by contract whereby one party undertakes to guarantee or indemnify another against a loss.
Car insurance is purchased because the law requires automobiles to be insured, homes are insured because the Mortgage Lenders require property insurance to purchase a home. So why do I buy health insurance?
If you do not have employer-sponsored benefits then you are either self-insured or you have purchased an insurance policy with a carrier. In either case you have asked the health insurance carrier to contribute in the cost of your health care.
Do you know what the true cost of your health care is? Next time you go to the doctor ask: “How much would this cost me if I did not have insurance?” You may be surprised to learn that the average cost of a routine annual physical is well over $ 200.
When you have health insurance you are asking the insurance company to share in the cost of your health care. So you have to decide how much of the cost of health insurance you are willing to take and what percentage of the cost of the health care you are asking the insurance company to provide for you.
Obviously the more benefits you ask the insurance company to provide for you the lower your financial risk and more often the higher your monthly premium. On the other, hand if you accept more of the cost of the day-to-day benefits and ask the insurance carrier to accept a smaller percentage of the risk this may reduce your premium,
Factors in deciding how to design or structure your benefits vary, a few things to consider would be: Do you need help paying for your frequent visits to the physician or are you or a family member taking prescription medication that you would need help covering the cost? If so, then you may want to look for a policy that has co-pay benefits and reduces your risk of financial loss.
Why are your insurance premiums so high? There is no one single factor. In general it is due to the high cost of services including but not limited to facility, equipment, administration, physician and prescription cost. The demographics of the population are aging and require more services to be provided to more people. We are living longer and the cost of doing so continues to increase.