Health and Life Insurance
The difference between life insurance and health insurance is that life insurance pays a beneficiary a specified sum of money after the party that is insured passes away. There are two basic types, life term and whole life. The less expensive is term life. Health insurance pays at least part of certain medical bills.
Term life can be purchased for a short period such as a year or with a thirty year maximum. Most elderly people choose term life; the beneficiary receives the money when the insured party is deceased.
Whole life can act as an investment plan. The premium is divided and part of it goes into the policy and the remainder goes into the investment of choice such as bonds, stocks or whatever the insured party chooses.
Even thought health and life insurance offer different coverage, they have certain similarities such as taking the health and age of the individual being insured into account when determining the cost of the premium.
Sometimes your employer offers or insists you take the health insurance that the company carries. This is unfortunate if it's from a company that is noted for not paying well. The premium is deducted from your paycheck, it is not free.
Choosing Health Insurance
When choosing health insurance be sure to inquire about conditions that preexist. A rider might be put on the policy that will in actually nullify most claims you try and make to pay your medical bills. At times the insurance company will promise to take the rider off after a period of time, they never do it on their own, you will have to insist and beware, because without informing you they will put it back on again. Make sure there is an appeals process available if the insurance company denies treatment and if this is an agency that is independent. Check to see if this is an accredited plan with the National Committee for Quality Assurance, you can get the information online. Research the company you choose, use forums, and most important read all fine print and if there is anything you do not understand discuss it with your insurance company. Talk this over with your doctor and his office staff, they better than anyone will know the particular problems with any health insurance company. Find out if they pay for specialists. Take into account your needs for example a young unmarried man does not need to pay for his wife's pregnancy. Find out about treatment in an emergency room.
There are many things to watch out for when choosing a health insurance, the inexpensive insurance companies do not pay much in the way of claims, if anything, and you are throwing your money away when you pay the premium. Even when the premiums are high and there are several companies out there that overcharge in the extreme and give next to nothing for it and often find a way out of paying benefits. It has been determined that half of all bankruptcies are due to medical expense,
so take heed. Do not be in a hurry to sign anything, after your policy is made out take and research every last bit of it. After all do you want to be popular with the insurance man or broke? Get the highest deductible policy that you can pay for if you are over fifty with a tax advantage health savings account; that comes with an insurance of your choice this is very economical. Do not try and hide any medical problems when taking on an insurance policy; the company can and will check your records and any claims you make will be denied but they may not deny taking your premiums.
Life insurance is just as much a necessity as health insurance. It should at least take care of burial expenses and a little more if you are a single person, but a married man has a duty to his family. To put the kids through school or at least a trade school and the girls need to make a living in this day and age also. The children will need some kind of vehicle to get back and forth to school or work, and then there are bills that the wife might not be able to handle if something happens to the breadwinner. There is a certain type of insurance that might help set you up for retirement if needed. Give the beneficiary a copy of the policy and make sure they understand it. Again the life insurance must be researched and chosen wisely.
Problems with Health Insurance Policies
Here are some things to watch out for. The face value on some policies decreases over the term of the insurance. It decreases anyway as the cost of living goes up. Read specific claims, under some conditions they will not pay. Suicide would be one of them. Find out if the policy covers disability and if necessary how hard will it be to claim? Can it be enforced if necessary? The policy should take care of the whole family for at least a year's time. More if you can possibility afford it. Some life insurance policies have what is a component of cash value and this allows you to withdraw money after a set amount of time. There are some policies epically those with a low premium where this cannot be done. If it can be done then watch for a depreciation of value. When the policy has an investment component, the payments are used for investment purposes at the company's discretion. If bad investments are made you end up with a policy of no value. If you are deceased and the beneficiary tries to claim money and you left out a trivial piece of information on the application form, coverage can be refused. When you name your beneficiary make sure it can be changed in case of death or if you change your mind. If you miss only payment make sure the benefits remain the same.
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