The advantages and disadvantages of health insurance
A health insurance plan is a form of insurance that aims to provide you and your family with the financial capacity to spend for any unfortunate incident that requires medical care and hospitalization.
If you’re feeling uncertain about getting one, here’s what you need to know about health insurance and the pros and cons of availing a health insurance plan to help you decide.
What is health insurance?
Health insurance serves to cover an insured individual’s medical, surgical, and dental expenses, which can also include the cost for their prescription meds. It can either be in the form of reimbursements or directly paid for by the healthcare provider.
Health insurance plans are usually part of the benefits package for employees, which adds value to any job opportunity.
How does a health insurance plan work?
In most cases, healthcare plans require policyholders to seek medical consultations, treatments, and other services from a designated provider to maximize coverage. Seeking the same types of medical attention from healthcare providers that are not connected to your healthcare provider may warrant you to pay out-of-pocket, so it always helps to do some research before availing a specific health insurance plan.
In the Philippines, there are different health insurance plans and network types you can choose from, depending on your needs.
Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) are popular medical insurance providers, as they offer a wider scope of coverage through a network of physicians and referrals to specialists. There are different payment methods available for health insurance plans including monthly, semestral, quarterly, and annually. By working with a network of doctors and healthcare providers, an HMO allows for lower premiums when compared to traditional health insurance plans, but it can have specific limitations.
Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs), meanwhile, offer medical care slightly similar to HMOs, but the difference lies in its arrangement. Doctors, dentists, and healthcare providers render their services at lower rates through the PPO. You gain access to this network by paying a fee to the PPO, or you can seek out-of-network medical services that offer limited coverage. The premiums paid for a PPO plan can be much higher, but it offers more flexibility compared to other health insurance options.
Point-Of-Service Plans (POS), lastly, is a type of managed healthcare plan that utilizes the features of both the HMO and PPO. The benefits of a POS plan can differ depending on your needs, as you can choose in-network care and secure referrals to specialists or seek coverage for out-of-network medical services.
Having the economic capacity to secure a health insurance plan allows you to enjoy the benefits that come with having regular checkups while protecting you from financial ruin.
Advantages of having health insurance
For the unemployed, self-employed, and freelancing sectors of the workforce, quality health insurance can be seen as an additional cost. But as many people from the insurance industry will tell you, “You can’t put a price tag on health.”
That said, here are some of the benefits of availing a health insurance plan.
- Lower costs for reliable health care vs. out of pocket costs if you do not have a health insurance plan
- Access to readily available medical attention
- Wide selection of plans that offer a range of benefits suitable to your health and well-being
Disadvantages of health insurance
The primary disadvantage to getting health insurance is the cost, as the different health insurance plans can warrant higher premiums relative to many factors including the status of your health, your age, your lifestyle, etc..
Here are some of the other cons of a health insurance plan.
- Unaffordable premiums due to pre-existing health conditions (health insurance providers require those with certain pre-existing health conditions to pay a higher premium because of the higher likelihood they have of using the insurance as well as the cost it would take for treatments and hospitalizations)
- Confusing policies, given the similarities and differences of each health care insurance plan
- If your plan doesn’t cover the medical attention or service that you need, or if the hospital bills exceed the allowable coverage, you will still have to shell out some money
Weigh your options and carefully determine which health insurance plan works best for you and your family. You never know when something might happen, so knowing the benefits that come with each type of healthcare plan provider can be the investment that saves you later in life.
Metrobank’s Bancassurance: AXA Health Insurance
Protect what is meaningful to you by reducing financial risk and preparing for any unexpected need for hospitalization or medical treatments. With AXA Health Solutions, you get a selection of secure and comprehensive health insurance plans that best fits your needs and budget. After all, it’s one thing to get sick, but it’s a whole other dilemma to get sick and not have the means to pay for your medical bills.
Don’t hesitate to contact Metrobank for any questions or inquiries on how you can secure your health and future today.
