Health insurance has become synonymous with health care in the U.S which has led to some confusion around what the difference actually is. The two are obviously quite different and so it is important that there is a clear understanding of how one is entirely separate from the other. Health care is paid for by an insurer with whom the policy holder has an insurance agreement. However, as this policy is paid for by this other party, rather than the individual themselves, the rates that are charged have increased quite dramatically throughout the last decade. A good deal of money is wasted through this system and as such, many people are losing out on their care plans, which of course impacts upon the health care they receive. It is the right of every citizen to be able to access health care as and when they need it regardless of their financial situation but unfortunately the health care system that is currently in place does not afford this.
The link between health care and insurance has been in existence for a long time and so it is engrained within our thinking that you cannot have good health care without appropriate insurance that costs a great deal. This has been instilled into our belief system so much so that it is affects the employment we take up or our satisfaction in our current work. We are all striving to work for an employer that offers better health care benefits to save us having to pay sky high insurance premiums ourselves. How much we can afford to pay and how much it will get us is a prime concern for most people. From the day we enter into the working world our single motivation is paying for our own health care.
There are not many people who would wish to pay for their own health care themselves rather than out of their insurance. As insurance rates are driven by the amount of times claims are made against them, the rate of health insurance is allowed to climb so steeply because people claim for it on a regular basis, each and every time they see a doctor. If health insurance worked the same way as car insurance for instance, and was claimed against less frequently and only in cases of prolonged of significant medical attention, the premiums would be far lower.
Perhaps the overall message is to consider paying for some parts of your health care without claiming or consider shopping around for lower premiums. Health care premiums tend to be quite high regardless of which insurance provider you choose and there is little flexibility in rates. Health insurance is calculated differently to other forms of insurance because of the number of claims health insurers receive. As a result prices are relatively fixed. As such, the search for good health insurance will not necessarily involve finding lower premiums but finding insurers that will pay out if they need to.
Fewer claims for health care will mean that premiums would likely fall but as health care is largely expensive this is unlikely to happen. It is important therefore, that in order to afford health care, one must ensure that they have a health insurance policy they can rely on.
