Medical and Health Insurance
Health insurance pays for private medical expenses, usually for short term, curable medical conditions. It allows the consumer to receive quick, convenient use of private healthcare facilities, for non-life threatening conditions and avoid long queues in the in the National Healthcare Service (NHS).
This by no means is an alternative to the NHS; private practices do not cover accident or emergencies for example, nor does medical insurance cover long term ailments. It compliments the traditional NHS in the UK providing private rooms often with a television and phone, better food and nursing facilities.
Health insurance usually covers specialist surgeries, accommodation in a private hospital or a private ward in an NHS facility, nursing bills drags and X-rays etc, though it is not necessarily better or worse care than the standard of care provided by the NHS, but the highlighted benefit is that of time, and convenience, allowing you the freedom to have any medical procedures carried out at a time to suit you rather than waiting in long and extensive queues, limited available appointments and lack of flexibility.
Why is it important for ex-patriots? I am sure you all know if you are one that getting professional health care when living abroad is sometimes a bit of a joke, and I don't mean funny, what I mean is terrible in fact. A story I heard recently was a good friend of mine went to, well let's not say the county in question.
My friend, whilst abroad ran into a spot of bother abroad, where he contracted a foreign ailment and medical care turned out to be expensive and difficult to arrange. Definitely the last thing he wanted to go through in his condition.Health insurance is often more broadly used to include long tem nursing care or to cover disability.
It ma be provided through government sponsored programs and social welfare programs funded by the government, or from private insurance companies. Often care I provided to individuals as an incentive or a benefit to working individuals, particularly those working for a larger corporations and can include eye care and dental care as well, and is then purchased by the employer to cover by a group basis to cover its employees. It can also be purchased by individuals or by families.When applying for medical insurance, taking into account the applicant's health, the type of coverage they are applying for, the overall risk of healthcare expenses and the finance they can afford to pay, a routine finance structure consisting of a monthly premium may be developed to ensure that the coverage specified in the insurance agreement can be paid for. This allows health insurance to be affordable and accessible to a wide range of people with different circumstances.
A few tricks to keep the cost of your health insurance down can be done by accepting a restricted choice of hospitals or paying off a larger portion of the claim. A budget policy may help you save money which applies only if the treatment required is not available on the NHS within a set period of time.
Some policies even offer a no-claim bonus that can assist in limiting the increase in your premium. This gives you an incentive not to make minor claims, which always account for the majority of claims.
Many employers offer this as a perk, which allows administration costs to be kept to a minimum and the employers may be able to negotiate bulk discounts or more generous terms. You could convince your employer to add it on as an incentive, which would also be preferable to them as it means that performance within the work place is not effected by easily treatable conditions. Though, private medical insurance is taxed as a perk if you earn above a certain amount a year.