Affordable Health Insurance

HDHPs May Not Be An Affordable Health Insurance Option

August 11th, 2011

Many people are starting to choose high deductible health plans (HDHP) because they consider it to be an affordable health insurance option. Employers have also started to offer this type of plan over HMOs and PPOs for its affordability. The advantage of offering HDHPs is that members get to pay a low monthly premium. HDHPs has become a popular choice especially for small business owners who are having a hard time providing health care benefits to the their employees.

While HDHPs have a lot of advantages, this type of medical and insurance plan is not for everyone. HDHPs have low monthly premiums but the enrollee has a deductible amount to reach. The policy holder reaches this amount by paying for their medical costs out of their own pocket. Until the deductible amount is reached, the health insurance provider will not pay for the costs. Your coverage will only kick in after you have reached your deductible. Because of this, people enrolled in HDHPs often tend to forgo health care services particularly preventive care because they can’t afford to keep paying out of pocket while their deductible has not been reached yet. This defeats the whole purpose of paying for an affordable health insurance coverage.  You still can’t easily access health care and thus your health is compromised.

Being able to access preventive care services is very important. It prevents illnesses from further developing into more serious conditions.  Death causing illnesses are actually preventable if medical attention was given in the early stage of development. Preventive care can also save you a lot of money. An ordinary illness that goes untreated will definitely lead to a more expensive treatment. As they say “an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure”. Examples of preventive care services are routine shots, screening for diabetes, mammogram and routine check-ups.

High deductible health insurance plans will work to your advantage if you are generally healthy or if you are a family without small children because small children require frequent trips to the doctor and vaccinations all of which you have to pay on your own until your medical costs reach the deductible amount.

HDHPs work with a Health Savings Account (HSA). An HSA is a savings account which you can use for your medical bills. This ensures that you will have enough to fund your medical costs until your coverage kicks in.

Before choosing to enroll in HDHPs or any other plans first evaluate your health insurance needs and your financial capacity and think if the plan will serve its purpose by not depriving you of the health care services you might need.