Function of health insurance is often asked by majority of people. Why paying a large amount of money for premiums if you can just save the same amount of money for paying your medical expenses by yourself?
One of the most common answers to the question to the function of health insurance is to cover the big cost of medical care for accidents or illness. With the advancement of medical facility in the present years, the cost of medical care is also greatly improved.
A treatment at the hospital for a broken leg by accident or a mildly serious illness with a surgery cost enough to make an average-waged man faint in surprise. A health insurance would prevent the surprise factor by spending the amount a little by a little with the premium, and that’s just one of the many functions we will discuss later.
Main Function of Health Insurance
Contrary to popular beliefs, the main function of health insurance is not to cover the cost of your medical expenses. It is to provide the care needed to minimize a sudden and large medical expense. Yes, a health insurance usually provide a routine care of health, including regular tests, physical examinations, booster shots, vaccines and minor illness treatment.
The regular care will provide early detection to any illness and make sure that the illness is treated before it develops into a serious threat to a patient’s life. The insurance will cover some or even all of the expenses, depending on the type of level of the medical care.
Of course, another function of health insurance is to help covering the cost of emergency care and chronic conditions. An injury, drug overdose, acute illness and other calamities are rarely expected and they cost a great deal of money.
By having them covered by health insurance, you will feel at ease because you know that some of the cost will be covered by the money you pay for the premium little by little. Usually the insurance will cover miscellaneous cost like ambulance as well. In the case of chronic conditions, as long as it’s not a pre-existing condition, the insurance will also cover a great deal of the costs.
The last of the function of health insurance is for pharmaceutical treatment. In western medicine, especially nowadays, medicine is an inseparable part of a doctor’s treatment. As long as the medicine is prescribed by the doctor, rest assured you will get reimbursed for a part or all of the cost. Because this is one of the main expenses of medical treatment, almost all insurance plans include this treatment as a part of the reimbursed cost.
Other Function of Health Insurance
There is always a bonus for having a health insurance, whether you realize it or not. First of all, like an investment, you will spend your money slowly so that you won’t feel a great loss directly when the situation requires it.
Second of all, having a health insurance will raise your awareness to your own health. By having someone else behind you to cover the cost, you lost one reason not to visit your doctors regularly, and therefore any threat to your health would be diagnosed early on.
It will give you a lot of advantages of treatment later on. Whether you realize it or not, having a health insurance will also give you a great deal of discount at the medical facilities of their network. This would be the last function of health insurance that will sure benefit you in the long run.
Afri Yanto S.Kom, An engineer who loves to write about education, lifestyle, tech stuff and popular sciences. CP: 