All about the catastrophic health insurance

Major medical plans are offered in situations when an employer doesn’t offer health insurance or refuses to pay for the coverage. Catastrophic health insurance has high deductibles and usually low premiums. Under catastrophic insurance coverage you still use your own pocket expenses for doctor’s visits and drug prescriptions, but medical and hospital expenses are covered. Catastrophic health insurance plans provide coverage for hospital visits, surgeries, diagnostics and intensive care, X-ray and lab tests.

Catastrophic health insurance plans generally have deductibles starting from $500 and higher. Some plans provide lifetime maximum benefit payments, with caps between $1 and $3 million dollars. When the cap is reached, your insurance plan becomes invalid. It should be mentioned that most catastrophic health insurance plans do not provide coverage for pregnancy, and some plans do not cover maternity care for a year after the wedding.

The disadvantage of such plans is that high-deductibles can be quite unpleasent to have. The matter is that you have to pay for your medical expenses out of your pocket until your expenses reach the deductible. Imagine the situation when your deductible is at the point of $15 000 dollars, and the surgery you need costs slightly less…In such case you’ll have to cope with all the payments on your own.

The statistics say that people, who tend to obtain catastrophic health insurance, are mostly in their 20’s or between 50 and 65. People prefer getting such plans if they don’t receive coverage through work or self-employed. Older adults purchase catastrophic health insurance, because their age makes them more concerned with the potential financial losses in case of heart attack, cancer, or other serious disease.

One more disadvantage of catastrophic health insurance is that if you have certain pre-existing conditions, you will most likely be denied the catastrophic health insurance coverage. Examples of such conditions are: AIDS, diabetes, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, and other.

Many insurance companies offer various types of catastrophic health insurance with different spectrum of coverage and deductibles. For example, Blue Cross and Blue Shield offers catastrophic health insurance plan, called “Essential”. It has deductible of $250 and out-of-pocket limit of $2,500 after you’ve exceeded your deductible. The lifetime maximum is 1$ million.

If you are considering on getting a catastrophic health insurance, apply online, or get a consultation from the insurance agent. Be very careful, and make sure you know what you are getting. Many people suffer from such high-deductible plans. If you want to get free consultation on this topic, please register on our web site, and our experts will answer your questions.