Health Insurance And Life Insurance: Basic Difference Between The Two

Many people are often confused about health insurance and life insurance. In simple terms, a health insurance prevents you from paying a large bill by covering full or a part of your medical expenses. A life insurance, on the other hand, gives to your beneficiary the entire face value of the policy as lump sum if you (the insured) die.

There are two kinds of life insurance: whole life and term life. Term life insurance is less expensive than whole life insurance. You can buy a term life insurance policy for as short as one year to a maximum of 30 years. If you have a term life insurance, your beneficiary only gets the money if you die. Most people choose to go with a term life insurance policy when they become older.

Whole life insurance, on the other hand, employs is a mix of life insurance policy and an investment plan. The premium that you pay is partly put into the life policy and the rest is put into the investment mechanism of your choice. You can choose to invest your money in a mutual fund, money market instrument, stocks, bonds and others. With a whole life insurance policy, you, the holder, is "forced" to save money, which you can eventually use when you retire. However, there are a lot of fees and commissions involved in whole life insurance. When you take these fees into account, a whole life insurance may turn out to be expensive for an individual.

Although a life insurance policy and health insurance policy are very much different from each other, both depend largely on the age and health of an individual. The younger you are, the less monthly premium you have to pay. If you are older and have poor health, you would end up paying high premiums.

So which insurance policy should you choose? Unfortunately, there is no black and white answer to this. If you are an employee and your employer offers both a health insurance and a low face value life insurance policy, take advantage and get both. However, if your employer only offers one and not the other, or you are self-employed, your choice of insurance policy will depend on your monthly spending power and overall financial situation.

Although expensive, it may be better to opt for health insurance coverage to avoid having to pay a hefty medical bill when you go down with an illness or have an accident. However, if you are not medically insured and have huge medical bills to be paid, a term life insurance policy that has a face value sufficient enough to pay off your bills will be helpful. You can designate your spouse as your beneficiary and he or she will not have to bear the burden of paying off the debt since your policy amount will be take care of your medical bills.

Disability Benefits: Health Insurance While Disabled

If you receive disability benefits from Social Security you are eligible for health insurance coverage after 24 months. Here are the basics of your health insurance coverage.

After you are approved for disability benefits you will have to wait 24 months to receive health insurance coverage. After the 24 month waiting period you will be covered by Medicare for hospital visits, outpatient expenses, and prescription drugs. Here is how your Medicare coverage works.

There are three parts of Medicare coverage. Medicare part A covers your hospital stays. There are no monthly premiums for this coverage; however in 2006 there is a $952 deductible before Medicare pays your hospital expenses. After you meet your deductibles Medicare typically pays 80% of your expenses and you are responsible for 20% of the cost. Medicare part B pays your outpatient expenses including visits to your doctor. There is a monthly premium for Medicare part B in 2006 is $88.50 per month.

You are eligible for prescription drug coverage under Medicare. This coverage is part D of Medicare. You may be required to pay a monthly premium depending on the plan you choose. Medicare part D plans are administered by private insurance companies and there is a $250 annual deductible before Medicare pays for your prescription drugs.

To learn more about disability benefits and your Medicare coverage, visit the website "Social Security Laid Bare" using the links below.

Consumer Driven Health Plans For Individuals - Pros And Cons

There are many advantages to consumer driven health plans for individuals.  However, there are also a couple of things you should consider before making the change.  Here's how to decide if this type of plan is the right solution for you.

Consumer driven plans consist of two parts:

1.  A Qualified High Deductible Health Plan:

These plans don't cover everyday expenses.  They are major medical plans that cover the big stuff.  Some plans cover preventive care and accidents before the deductible.  There are some plans that cover 100% of your medical expenses after you reach the deductible.

2.  A Health Savings Account:

Having a Qualified High Deductible Health Plan qualifies you to open a financial account called an HSA, or health Savings Account.  This allows you to deposit money pre-tax in a checking account and pay for medical expenses tax free.

The Pros

Consumer driven plans offer a great solution for individuals who don't utilize their health benefits much.  They are much less expensive than traditional plans, allowing people who don't over use their plan to save hundreds or thousands of dollars per year.  They allow you to control your everyday healthcare costs by creating motivation to negotiate prices, make educated decisions on medical tests, and prescriptions.  These plans truly put the control of medical costs back in your court.

With traditional plans, the insurance company keeps your premium whether you use the benefits or not.  With these health plans, you only spend your money if you need medical care.  If not, you pocket the savings.

The Cons

These plans don't work well for individuals that utilize their medical benefits often, of have ongoing medical care or expensive prescriptions.  More often than not if you need medical care, it will offset the money you would save if you didn't.

Depending on your medical needs, consumer driven health plans can be a great solution to high health insurance costs.  If you don't utilize your current plan much, and are relatively healthy, learn more about consumer driven health plans.

Health Insurance

Nothing is more precious to us than having good health. Everyday people are getting more aware of the importance of having good health in order to be able to l8ive life to the fullest. But as the saying goes nothing is certain in this world, we will always have uncertainties and surprises good or bad in our life. We do get sick once in a while flu or even some major illness, or get ourselves involve in accidents. What ever the case may be these events when they happen to us could deplete our savings or even push us to bankruptcy. With the rising cost of hospital fees, laboratories and doctors' fees it is now expensive and complicated. This is where health insurance could benefit us all. Yes, health insurance may cost a lot but having no health insurance at all cost more. Medical bills incurred from an accident could burn a hole in your savings. And in cases of cancer treatments, with all the doctors' check ups, laboratory tests, and chemotherapy that one has to go through it could ruin you financially.

Health insurance could help you pay for the cost of a regular medical check ups, surgeries, contact lenses and glasses and even emergency treatments. There are two basic kinds of health insurance plan, the indemnity plan and the managed care plan. Indemnity plan is also called the fee for service plan. It has wider freedom and flexibility in the choices of the insured. He gets to pick the doctor, hospital and laboratory and other medical service provider of his choice. As long as the medical service is included in the health contract. But, the catch is the plan doesn't pay for the entire charges, instead the insured shoulders the 20 % of the payment. This kind of plan covers only illnesses and accidents but preventive care like flu shots and birth control are not included. And coverage of the cost of prescription drugs and psychotherapy will depend on the policy and the company.

Managed Care Health insurance differs from the indemnity plan in a lot of ways. First, choice of doctors, hospitals, laboratories and other medical service provider is

limited to only those who have contracts with the HMO -Health Maintenance Organization--.Medical services is received only if authorized by the plan. If you insist on engaging on non authorized medical service provider then the cost of service or care provided will not be paid by the company. Preventive care and mental health treatment are covered by the plan.

Due to the rising demands for better and wider health insurance coverage, the health insurance is offering hybrid plans. Wherein, they combine the benefits of HMOs and indemnity coverage. The method is you can use the network of medical service providers that have contracts with the HMO but you are allow to choose someone outside of the network and pay for a higher percentage in the fee.. Managed Care plan also allows open access theory, where one can see a network medical specialist without any referrals from HMO.

You need to decide carefully in choosing the right health insurance plan for you and your family needs. You need to have a careful evaluation on what your family needs and extensive research for the right health insurance company that will provide for those needs. Keep in mind that the lowest premiums don't really mean it's the cheapest plan. Remember the cheapest plan is the policy that will give you the best benefits that your family really needs in case of emergencies and illnesses.

Effects Of Junk Food On Health

The phrase "junk food" itself speaks of endangerment to health. Junk foods are deemed to be trash foods as they are high in fat and sugar components regardless of how they are labeled by manufacturers. The apparent effect of junk food on health administers when there is excess in intake. Teenagers comprise the higher bulk of junk food fanatics and they seem to be unhealthy with such a lifestyle of munching in chips, fries, crackers and other snack foods in front of the television. Majority of junk food choices do not deliver beneficial nutritional values, but you could actually integrate a few junk foods in your diet with an assurance that it is of moderate amount.

Regardless of age, the effect of junk food on health settles as bad as it could be especially when you eat too much of some. You will end up easily getting exhausted by being a junk food fanatic. Because it doesn't balance the appropriate levels of energy you ought to consume, you have tendencies of craving for more food when you eat junk foods. Also, you can be less focused with anything you undertake at work and home because what you are acquiring from junk foods are mere fats, not healthy ingredients. Also, you will experience lack of important oxygen that eventually result to poor brain functioning.

In the long run, your heart cannot function as it should because of too much cholesterol absorbed in the body as an effect of junk food on health. If there's too much plaque in the arteries, your heart has to assert more effort in pumping blood which may cause you to be in fatigue. The excess amount of cholesterol in your body can destroy the liver as well, leaving you overweight at the same time. Most of obese kids have acquired their overweight dilemma because of too much junk food intake. Most of those who are junk food eaters are likely to get diabetic at any point in their life because of high presence of sugar in the body. High blood pressure due to great amount of sodium from junk foods can also occur.

As they always say it, whatever is avoided comes so tasty. Ice cream, chocolate, junk foods, fries, burgers, potato chips and shakes are all tempting. You can perhaps be disciplined in indulging in these types of food because they are initially unhealthy to have. Too much of anything sweet or salty is health threatening. Not only will you have a bad effect of junk food on health, you will also largely embrace mood swings, decreased enthusiasm to handle workouts, weight gain and constipation problems if you eat junk foods unstoppably. In lieu of them, you can pick fruits and high-fiber food for good snacks and meals.

Pros And Cons Of Individual Health Insurance

Getting individual health insurance plans is a common choice among the unemployed or self-employed looking for insurance. In order to get this kind of plan, you have to undergo a physical exam to be conducted at the behest of the insurance provider. This will enable the insurance provider to learn more about you and your medical history. You will also be interviewed by a representative of the insurance company to see if you are financially capable of maintaining your account. The results of these tests and interview will determine your eligibility for these plans. Here are some of the pros and cons of getting an individual health insurance.

Advantages

The good thing about getting an individual health insurance is that you get to choose which benefits you want to be included in your package. These include consultation fees, childbirth and well-baby, accidents, and critical illnesses, among others. You can get to choose the benefits that you will mostly likely use and need in the future.

If you are short on cash and cannot afford to pay high monthly dues, other insurance providers may help you by offering co-payments or the insurance provider will share your medical expenses.

Disadvantages

The problem with indemnities is that they may be hard to get. Depending on your physical conditions, an insurance company has the right to deny your application. If you are a high risk client, predisposed to getting diseases like cancer or diabetes, or have a hazardous occupation, your chances of getting insurance may decrease. But if even you do get accepted, the insurance company may charge you high monthly fees or premiums in order to keep your account active.

The bottom line here is that the insurance only helps you in getting medical attention and paying for it a lower price. It is still up to you to keep yourself healthy.

Florida's New Low-cost Health Insurance Plans

Recently, a bill was signed in Florida that would help establish the creation of a low cost health insurance plan for Florida residents.

Unfortunately, amid all the fanfare, very few people stopped to take a close look at what was actually being proposed. Permit me to enlighten you on some of the more important aspects of the proposed plan.

First of all, it is not a mandated health insurance plan. In other words, an insurance carrier would have to decide if they even want to create a plan to sell. This is NOT A PLAN THAT THE STATE OF FLORIDA IS PROVIDING. Please understand that Florida is in the midst of an extreme budget crunch and is not spending a single dime on this plan. Governor Crist has made that very clear. The cooperation of the health insurance industry will be required to make this work. As of now, there are no plans available.

Second, this is not a major medical plan. If you have a medical crisis and this is your only health insurance, you are in a lot of trouble. It is a minimal plan with a few doctor visits, a physical, perhaps some generic prescription coverage (the drugs you already get in Wal-Mart for $4) and a few other benefits. Surely, none of you ever thought that you would get a complete major medical plan for $150 a month.

Next, the plan is for someone who has had no health insurance for six months. This means that in their infinite wisdom, Florida's representatives decided that if you lose your job and cannot afford your COBRA insurance, they want you to be without any health insurance at all for at least six months. We have a real brain trust in Tallahassee don't we.

Now, you are really going to love this. The plans are going to sell for about $150 (projected price but who knows) and give you the most minimal of benefits. But that is the cost for an individual. A family will be much more. As a matter of fact, if you have a healthy family, a traditional major medical plan with real benefits might be less expensive.

For example, at FLQUOTE a Florida Health Insurance website a 40 year old male in Pasco County can get an excellent PPO plan for about $130 a month. We are talking about a complete multi-million dollar, major medical plan. Not a minimal plan.

Who will this plan help?

I am still trying to figure that out. This is supposed to help those of you who cannot get health insurance. But, it will not pay for your expensive brand name prescriptions; it will not cover extensive hospitalization or expensive testing procedures. For those of you who think that dental coverage is part of health insurance - it is not. It will not cover any dental or vision costs.

If you are poor, you are much better off on Medicaid. If you are medically qualified, you will get far more coverage for your money with a traditional health insurance plan.

Have politicians created a created a, half-way measure to pander to the voters? Is it "better than nothing"? If you are paying $1,800 a year for a few office visits, you have to wonder if it is even worth it.

If you are holding your breath for government sponsored health insurance, chances are you will turn blue and collapse first.

You do have alternatives. There are decent low cost plans available to Florida residents. There are also guaranteed issue plans with no medical questions that are similar to the plans being proposed. You can find guaranteed issue health insurance plans online.

Clearly, it will be interesting to see if this new proposal yields any positive change or does it become an exercise in futility.

If you are interested in learning more about low cost health insurance in Florida, you can go to Affordable Florida Health Insurance Plans. To find out more about health insurance plans that have no medical requirements, go to Guaranteed Issue Health Insurance.