Health Insurance

It is a type of insurance whereby the insurer pays the medical costs of the insured if the insured becomes sick due to covered causes, or due to accidents. The insurer may be a private organization or a government agency. Market-based health care systems such as that in the United States rely primarily on private health insurance.

Why do we need health insurance?
Health Insurance helps protect you from high medical care costs. Many people in the United States get a health insurance policy through their employers. In most cases, the employer helps pay for that insurance. Insurance through employers is often with a managed care plan. There plans contract with health care providers and medical facilities to provide care for members at reduced costs.

You can also purchase health insurance on your own. It usually costs you more than employer-bases insurance. People who meet certain requirements can qualify for government health insurance, such as Medicare and Medicaid. If you do not have health insurance, you must pay your medical bills directly or rely on health care providers or organizations that donate care.

What factors affecting insurance price?
Because of advances in medicine and medical technology, medical treatment is more expensive, and people in developed countries are living longer. The population of those countries is aging, and a larger group of senior citizens requires more medical care than a young healthier population. (A similar rise in costs is evident in social security in the united states.) These factors cause an increase in the price of health insurance.

Some other factors that cause an increase in health insurance prices are health related: Insufficient exercise; unhealthy food choices; a shortage of doctors in impoverished or rural areas; excessive alcohol use, smoking, street drugs, obesity, among some parts of the population; and the modern sedentary lifestyle of the middle classes.