Are Low Cost Health Insurance Plans Worth it? Also, Dissatisfaction with U.S. Health Care System
Hello, and welcome to this issue of the Weekly Health Insurance News Roundup. This time out we'll take a look at a couple of articles that discuss some of the larger issues regarding health insurance and health care.
The first article, "Is Low-Cost Health Insurance Worth It?" over on MSNBC, looks at the problems associated with low-cost health insurance and how little they actually cover in terms of health care costs. There are health insurance companies offering policies as low as $160 a month for individuals and $260 for families. While this sounds very affordable, there are issues that make these kinds of plans more costly than they might seem.
While the monthly costs are low, the costs involved if you actually need medical attention at a hospital, or even surgery, can still end up costing customers thousands of dollars since their health insurance will cover a bare minimum of services. For example, certain plans will only cover $100 a day for a hospital stay up to ten days. This is well below what a hospital stay can actually cost ultimately. Coverage for surgery, anesthesia and so on is also on the minimal side.
This means that while the initial costs of such an insurance plan might seem low, the costs might end up actually being quite high if you do get sick, need medical attention or surgery. For individuals and families without health coverage through their job, or whether they don't have a job and get insurance through agencies such as COBRA, plans like this can seem attractive, but experts urge customers to pay more for major health insurance coverage rather than less-expensive plans that only offer the most basic of coverage.
In our other article from eFluxMedia, entitled, "Americans Dissatisfied with the Present Health Care System," they look at how a recent survey from the Commonwealth Fund shows that over eighty-percent of Americans feel that our current health care system is in need of a "complete overhaul." A lot of respondents also feel that both presidential candidates should make health care reform a top priority in their campaigns.
The results make it clear that "our health care system isn't giving Americans the health care they need and deserve." This is mostly blamed to disorganization, inefficiency, lack of coordination as well as a lack of affordable health insurance options for many patients. Another factor is dissatisfactory doctor-nurse communication, as lack of details between the two seems to be a common complaint.
So here we see some articles touching on major issues in the health care and health insurance systems. While little in the way of a solution is offered in either article, it's personally my hope that bringing these issues to light will lead to change...if enough people get tired of the current system and demand it. That concludes this issue of the Weekly Health Insurance News Roundup. I hope you've enjoyed it.
Other Health Insurance News Options: