Healthcare and Insurances

 

Healthcare and health insurance are the two terms mostly used interchangeably. Healthcare which includes elements like emergency room visits, preventative medicine, and prescription drugs is far different from health insurance which helps to cover medical services. Many of them get confused about how healthcare services are provided. Those who are having health insurance may not have private insurance, instead of having health coverage through the government or organization memberships.

Healthcare

Healthcare is defined as efforts made to maintain or retrieve mental, physical and emotional wellness by licensed and trained professionals. It includes primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary medical treatment. Healthcare delivered to patients which includes any methods or procedures to care for a patient.

It also includes the procedures like diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. It is not just limited to traditional medicine. It also covers advanced coverages like dentistry, optometry, pharmacy, nursing, allied health, and similar areas of health. IN recent years, due to advancement in technology, the healthcare industry has grown significantly.

The industry in which Healthcare providers or practitioners work is referred to as the healthcare industry. In this healthcare industry, it is totally made of doctors, nurses, therapists, dentists, pharmaceutical companies, and hospital systems. When these experts set prices for their products and services, it has a direct effect on health insurance costs.

Through healthcare providers, patients are able to receive treatment for their illnesses but also receive some guidelines to prevent diseases in the future.

Types of Healthcare

Primary Care

Primary care is responsible for coordinating your health with your specialists. It is the most recognizable type of care in which your healthcare provider assists symptoms and medical concerns.

Secondary Care

If your healthcare provider refers you to specialists, you are in secondary care. This means that you will be cared for by someone who has expertise in their field in which you are having health issues.

Tertiary Care

If a patient requires hospitalization based on their health condition, he/she is referred to as in tertiary care.

Quaternary Care

Quaternary Care is an extension of tertiary care. It is a type of specialized in their hospitals in which it is provided only in certain hospitals and providers.

Home and Community Care

It refers to a broad range of medical services which is mainly designed to satisfy a person’s medical needs which includes skilled nursing care, a dietician, and occupational, physical, or speech therapies.

Urgent Care

Urgent care centers are mainly open during non-business hours, such as midnights, weekends, and holidays. Urgent care provider provides easy access to patient’s health care at times when their regular healthcare provider is not available.

Health Insurance Definition

Health insurance is defined as a system of finance used for medical expenses. It helps to absorb or offset healthcare costs associated with a broad range of services which includes routine full body check-ups, sudden illnesses or injuries, inpatient and outpatient surgery, specialist referral visits, and prescription medications.

Health insurance policy is mainly classified into three types - privately paid by an individual, or through employee beneficiary package, policy provided as a service through Social Security. Health insurance policies can differ from company to company and each has their own set of criteria for providing coverage.

Health insurance includes a wide range of illnesses and injuries, such as accidental loss, mental illness, and disabilities. With the help of health insurance, the insured person can reimburse their healthcare expenses for their injury or illness.

Choosing a health insurance policy is very difficult because of changing laws and differing policies from one company to another. You must know all the options of policies so that you can choose your suited policy for your healthcare needs.

Types of Health Insurance

Basic Medical Insurance

Basic medical insurance plans offer less coverage than premium ones. After paying a premium for insurance coverage, members receive some amount to reimburse them which includes doctor visits, surgery, and lab tests.

Major Medical Insurance

Major medical insurance policy covers more than just doctor consultation and surgery procedures. These plans cover the services like physical therapy, nursing home care, and rehab, and prescription drug costs.

Supplemental Medical Expense Insurance

Supplemental medical expense insurance policy is mainly designed to help you pay for services and other expenses that your insurance company will not pay for them.

Disability Income Insurance

Disability income insurance policy is eligible for mainly disabled individuals who are not able to work with payments of benefits. In this type of insurance, 45 to 65 % of a person's gross income is replaced as a tax free basis.

Long Term Care Insurance

Long term care insurance policy helps to pay for expenses who are undergoing long-term care. It mainly covers care that is not covered by Medicare or Medicaid.

Critical Illness Insurance

Critical illness insurance policy requires the insured person to make up a large amount of cash payment, if the insured person is diagnosed with specific illness.

Hospital Cash Insurance

Hospital cash insurance policy provides finance protection by giving daily cash throughout the duration of hospitalization of insured persons.

Benefits of Health Insurance:

Financial security

Nowadays, medical costs are rising rapidly. And in case of any medical emergency, you could spend all your savings for medical treatment. This could disrupt the financial budget of Indians. So having a health insurance plan is the best solution to avoid using money from your savings account.

Income tax benefit:

Any payment is made toward health insurance then you will be eligible for tax deduction under the 80D of the income tax act. And also, above the age of 60 who has insurance then you will claim a deduction of INR 25,000 for themselves and for those who are taking policies for their parents above the age of 60, they will claim a deduction of INR 50,000.

Pre- and post-hospitalization expenses:

This policy will not only cover your medical expenses but also cover the expenses of pre and post OPD and also for diagnostic tests. It will cover a period of time.

Critical illness coverage:

If you or your family member is hit by any critical illness, then you have to spend a huge amount of money for treatment. For this purpose, the health insurance policy will help you at any time to arrange the money for treatment. You can also use this money for other illnesses.

Additional benefits:

If you have a health insurance policy, then you will receive many additional benefits like ambulance coverage, coverage for health examinations, vaccination costs, coverage for day care surgeries and other.

Conclusion

The major confusion between healthcare vs health insurance may not seem too important, in which knowing the differences between the two have a big impact on your choice of policy. When understood health insurance, it allows policyholders the ability to protect themselves from unpredictable future health care costs at an affordable cost.