Hospital health insurance coverage only, a type of catastrophic plan, is an inexpensive way to provide major medical benefits for individuals and families. Rates are substantially lower than comprehensive plans, and this type of policy continues to grow in popularity. Often the savings in premium is thousands of dollars per year (per family), which can easily and effectively be used to offset lack of non-preventive office visit benefits and most prescriptions.
Now that the Supreme Court has rules that the Affordable Care Act will be implemented, these forms of medical benefits may become even more popular. Why? Because, in 2014, when many policies will be purchased through State Health Insurance Exchange programs, many families and individuals may choose to buy coverage “outside” the Exchange, where rates may be less since you are only paying for benefits that you feel you need.
We’re one of the nation’s best shopping website for hospital health insurance plans. We help you view the lowest available rates from the most respected carriers such as Aetna, UnitedHealthCare, Blue Cross, Cigna, Assurant and many other companies. Within minutes, you can see live quotes and apply for immediate coverage. We feel it’s important to be able to talk to a live experienced broker instead of receiving pre-programmed emails in response to your questions.
Typically, hospital plans cover most expenses of confinement. Some of these inpatient expenses include (but are not limited to) daily hospital room charges at the semiprivate rate, intensive care costs, drugs, medicine and other important medical supplies, stated fees of doctors and surgeons, costs of operating, recovery and treatment rooms for surgery, and radiation treatment or chemotherapy treatment.
Additional inpatient covered benefits include ground ambulance service to the nearest hospital, and administration of blood and artificial limbs. Of course, there may be variations in policy benefits when comparing plans from different companies. Also, if you move from one state to another, you may notice a change in benefits since state mandated requirements do vary. For example, maternity or mental illness coverage is often different in each state.
Plans That Pay Your Hospital Bills Are Available
Many hospital health insurance policies also provide outpatient expense coverage. Some of the more common items covered are CAT scans, MRIs, hospital emergency room expenses for illness or injury, prescription drugs related to possible organ rejection, and typical outpatient facility charges. The percentage of surgeries that are now done on an outpatient basis are increasing (every year), so it is always a good idea to closely examine this portion of your policy.
Fixed Indemnity policies can be purchased through selected carriers such as Assurant. Benefits are fairly limited, so this type of plan should not be expected to cover a large percentage of your expenses. For example, if you were hospitalized for 10 days and had surgery and multiple procedures, there would likely be a cap on how much of the hospital bill would be paid by the insurer.
For example, if the cost of a gall bladder surgery was about $12,000, the Fixed Indemnity policy might pay for $5,000 of the expenses, (or less) leaving a large balance for the policyholder. some of the gaps would be paying surgeon and anesthesiologist fees, pathology expenses, ultrasounds and blood work. However, a conventional policy, depending on benefits, may cover $8,000 to $11,500 of that amount.
With recent national health care reform changes, most health insurers include preventive benefits in their catastrophic health care plans. Generally, there is no waiting period, deductible or coinsurance to use these benefits. Typical preventive coverages include annual routine physicals, well-child visits, pneumonia and flu shots, vaccines for diseases, blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes screenings, mammograms, pap smears, and prostate cancer screenings. Prior to 2011, many companies required waiting periods or copays before allowing policyholders to use these coverages.
If the need for hospital coverage is less than 12 months, a temporary medical plan might be the best option. Although pre-existing conditions and preventive benefits are not covered, premiums are extremely inexpensive, often 50% less than a standard copay policy. This type of policy is best suited for persons that are between jobs, waiting for a policy to begin, graduating high school or college students or seasonal employees. Applications are normally approved within a few days and consist of very few medical questions. Often, it takes less than 25 minutes to view a quote and apply for coverage. But usually you can only apply to renew coverage one time with each company.
The section at the top of the page allows you to easily view and compare quotes from the most respected carriers. If you choose to apply for a policy, free assistance will be available.
