Pros Of Getting Individual Health Plans

By Author: Norris Rios
Total Articles: 572
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Insuring one's health is crucial for keeping the medical expenses caused by a condition or illness within the budget. For a relatively small amount of money you can benefit from quality healthcare, which otherwise would cost quite a lot of money. In general there are two main types of health coverage widely spread in the United States: individual and group insurance plans.

Group plans are quite widespread because they are typically offered by the employer. Under an employer-sponsored health plan a person can get standard insurance coverage for a very small amount of money, or even free of charge, depending on the employer. State and federal sponsored programs also provide health coverage to certain groups of citizens that are either less financially stable or have specific healthcare requirements such as senior citizens or toddlers.

However, a large group of citizens do not fall under any group insurance plans and are forced to consider individual policies. Others buy such plans on purpose since they offer a set of benefits that group health plans do not provide. Here are some of the advantages you typically ...
... get under an individual health insurance plan:

1. It's much easier to keep track of the financial flows under an individual plan since you know who's paying who and where the money goes. Some intermediaries of group plans are eliminated, which allows the benefits to be distributed much faster and more efficiently.

2. You can customize your plan in order to meet your exact insurance needs. Group health insurance plans do not allow this and you get the same set of benefits as everyone in the group does regardless of your individual requirements. With individual plans, however, you can choose what services are more important and what services aren't required at all according to your health history.

3. Under individual health plans it's much easier to cover pre-existing conditions. Most group plans won't cover health conditions that were present before the policy was purchased, which is rather down-turning for people who have serious health problems they are struggling with.

4. You can also include your spouse and children to your individual plan for proper healthcare assistance. This way you can make sure that your entire family is properly covered and gets all the benefits needed.

5. With individual health insurance you can choose the network of facilities and professionals you want to receive services from. Unlike group insurance plans that limit you to the pre-determined network of providers, choosing between individual plans gives you the freedom of choosing the exact doctors and clinics you'll be visiting under your plan.

Of course, there are some cons to individual plans as well. And the biggest shortcoming of purchasing such plans is the price. Individual plans are usually more expensive than group plans, that's why a lot of people not being able to receive their health benefits with group plans choose to remain uninsured. Still, having individual health coverage is much cheaper than paying for all the medical expenses out of own pocket when you really need the help. So make sure to get adequate insurance for you and your family even if may seem like not a very good bargain in the short run.