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Benefits of Health Insurance

Paying for health insurance can get expensive, especially if you are the one responsible for paying the premium each month. In the end, however, having a health insurance plan in place is far less expensive than remaining among the ranks of the uninsured. If you are without health insurance, you are responsible for paying your own health care costs, but if you are insured, you will pay much less in premiums than you will for your medical expenses.

Medical bills can leave a family deep in debt and unable to pay their other expenses, and coverage for just one illness or injury can more than pay for the value of the policy. The money you save on out-of-pocket medical bills is usually well worth the cost of the policy. Even if you think that you'll never get ill, or that you'll never need to use your benefits, a sudden illness or an accident can strike at any time. Insurance offers you peace of mind, allowing you to focus less on paying the bills and more on getting better. Those with insurance are far more likely to go to the doctor for treatment, and those who are uninsured are far less likely to get regular screenings or timely care for conditions that start out slow and gradually get worse.

According to a Kaiser Family Foundation study, skipping needed medical care can lead to severe health problems, and the uninsured are more likely to end up in the hospital for conditions that are avoidable and treatable. The uninsured are also less likely to get adequate preventive care. The benefits of health insurance go far beyond just medical care; some plans even pay for a fitness club membership, and some offer a 24-hour hotline where a plan member can call a nurse with health questions.

A lot of uninsured people think that they can just go to the ER for care when they need it, and while that's true, it presents several problems. Emergency rooms are often inundated with the uninsured, because they are bound by law to care for all who come in, regardless of their ability to pay for treatment. However, a private doctor requires proof of insurance so they can submit a claim for reimbursement. An inflow of uninsured patients to an emergency room leaves ER doctors less able to help those with genuine emergencies, and it also causes everyone to have to wait longer for care.

You may think that if you don't have health insurance, you can just go the emergency room if you need medical care.

Having a health insurance policy will allow you to go to a primary care doctor, who is much better at providing regular care than the staff of an emergency room. More importantly than that, your primary care doctor will know your medical history, and with your insurance, you will get better care at a more reasonable price than you would pay with a trip to the ER.