Insurance is an agreement between an individual and a company in which the individual gets financial reimbursement against damage, illness, loss, or death.
Insurance comes handy when an unexpected situation comes up in life. For example, there could be a car accident, a sudden death, or a medical emergency. Such reasons generate the need for insurance.
In these types of scenarios, the insurance company will repay for the loss or emergency. In the US, insurance can be acquired either privately or through the government programs of Medicare and Medicate.
Types of Healthcare Insurance Policies in the US
Regular Health Insurance
Regular health insurance is obtained by paying for premiums, deductibles, and other out of the pocket expenses.
The health cost is on the rise. To be precise, healthcare spending rose a trillion dollars between 1996 and 2015 according to JAMA (Journal of American Association).
One main reason for this drastic increase is population growth. This increase in population is giving rise to more aged citizens, more chronic diseases, and high rates of expenses in treatments.
Medicare Insurance and Medicate Insurance
Both government programs are social programs in which the individual gets benefits after paying throughout his or her working life. Medicare insurance is a government plan that finances the elderly (65 years and above).
In some cases, this insurance policy gives benefits to disabled people. Recently, according to Medicare, people with terminal illnesses and medical health problems are also being covered.
The medicate program helps the poor or with low income under the age of 65. Things that this program covers are hospital and home treatments, medical issues, nursing care, and family planning.
Obama Healthcare Insurance
Millions of Americans have been uninsured throughout history. Consequently, President Obama passed out a law known as the Affordable Health Care on March 23rd, 2010 to promote Universal healthcare.
Affordable HealthCare worked with three categories.
- Subsidies
- Individual Mandate
- and Regulation
The Subsidies are people with low incomes. They get the subsidy amount of insurance according to their income.
The Individual mandate is a category of healthy individuals who pay a fee of 95 dollars or 1% of the income because they don’t want to pay for the insurance.
All three parts of the law work together to make an excellent system. They are connected to one another. So if one fails, then the whole system collapses.
Differences between Regular health Insurance and Medicare Insurance
Regular health insurance covers all the citizens who can afford it. While Medicare insurance is a government-funded program that covers the senior citizens of 65 years of age or above, with disabilities or the terminally ill conditions.
Private insurance covers each and every little medical problem, while Medicare is for some specific purposes.
The enrollment of private health insurance is taken place at birth or marriage while the government enrollment can be done at any time of one’s life span.
There is a difference between the facilities of both the insurance. Private insurance gives more options in treatment in the best private or semi-private hospitals. But on the other hand, the government programs give no option for an alternative treatment.
Conclusion
Throughout history, healthcare has been a hot debate among US politicians. Expensive premiums, different categories of insurance coverage, and the high cost of medical treatments have made it difficult to decide which way to go about with insurance policy. Yet, Health Insurance is still important.
Furthermore, the government and private insurance have both benefits and drawbacks. As a result, millions of US citizens have been recorded to be uninsured.
A content mother, a former student of Hisham Sarwar, and a professional SEO blogger on multiple niche giving services at Fiverr.
Um Yousuf says
Wow! Great article to learn the different types of insurances or else it would be a tedious job to research about each one individually. Very much needed info. Well written!
Quratulain Merchant says
I’m glad you found it handy. Thank you 😉
Abid says
Very informative and well explained article. It seems author has done lot of research.
Quratulain Merchant says
Thank you 😉
Andy Lewis says
Well done. I enjoyed the article for its clarity and straightforward style. I had always wondered what a “Subside” was.
Quratulain Merchant says
Thank you 🙂 Took care of the “subside” error. Thanks for pointing out!
Quratulain Merchant says
Thank you 🙂 Fixed “subside”. Thank you pointing it out!
Noor says
Well written article which gives fundamental explanation about insurance in USA
Quratulain Merchant says
Thank you 🙂
Dr. Rajesh says
Nicely synthethise all the important aspect and logically connected all the relevant dots. Well done.
Quratulain Merchant says
Thank you for the kind words 🙂