Health insurance is one of the methods of avoiding the risk of having to arrange for the money to pay for the medical expenses. There are many benefits of having a health insurance policy. Many insurers cover all the expenses of medical treatments and related costs under the insurance and most policies do not have a deductible. This gives extra peace of mind considering that since the hospital is directly dealing with the insurer regarding the payment of your bill, you would not be bothered in any way.

Health insurance can be a private health insurance policy; this insurance would cover for your medical costs. Other than this, you can also be part of a group health insurance. Group health insurance is usually purchased and paid for by the employer for all his employees. Though mainly offered by employers, it can also be group insurance for military, offered by labour unions or federal groups etc. The plans could be completely paid by the employer or may include some contribution from the employee.

Protection under group health insurance: There are laws to prevent discrimination when insurance is offered. You cannot be denied health insurance because of your health status or charged more than the others. It is not

mandatory for every employer to offer health insurance to employees, so it is not necessary that you are part of a group health insurance. It would be better that you have a health insurance from a private insurer in addition to the one offered by your employer as there would be limits to the insurance that the employer is offering. Before purchasing an individual health insurance, it is better to find out what all are covered and excluded under your group health insurance policy and purchase a policy to cover what is not covered under the group insurance policy.

Most of the insurers have some exclusion in the health insurance policies. Majority of insurances do not cover pre- existing medical conditions and if the pre-existing conditions are covered there would be a limit to the coverage or they impose a waiting period before the coverage starts. Health insurance coverage does not end if you get ill or the premium is not increased because of your poor health status. Also in case you are leaving the job and joining a new job, you still have health insurance. Most policies have a time period of coverage even after the employee leaves the job. This is helpful as most employers offering health insurance would have a wait period before the coverage starts. In case you have HMO coverage through your employer and are leaving the job, you can buy a conversion policy. There are Medicare and Medicaid programs which also are health insurance policies.

In the District of Columbia, you can purchase a DC healthy families program for coverage of your family. You can have coverage through DC health care alliance in case you do not have health insurance coverage. All the states and insurers follow Health Insurance Portability and accountability acts (HIPAA) so that there is a standard which is followed in all states regarding health insurance. This law also ensures that your medical and personal information are not misused in any way by the insurer.

If you are part of a Group health insurance, you cannot be denied of the insurance because you have a pre-existing medical condition or you cannot be charged more as premium for health coverage. But there are limitations to health insurance coverage.

Limitations: Employers are not mandated to provide health insurance to employees. If you have a health insurance offered by the employer, you cannot carry the coverage with you when you change jobs. If the employer whom you have joined recently offers health insurance also, he might impose a wait period for pre-existing conditions.

Coverage: When you join a group health insurance plan, most insurers ask for any pre-existing medical condition. And if you put in a claim for any medical condition for a certain period of time, it is verified that this is not a pre-existing condition. The period of time which is verified is called a look back period. For example, if you put in a claim within the first six months, the insurer might look up your treatment charts for the past six months before the commencement of the policy to ensure that there was not a treatment for the same condition during that period. Pregnancy is not considered a pre-existing condition. Though there is a look back period and insurers ask for pre- existing medical conditions, they cannot exclude pre-existing medical conditions from the health insurance policy. They can exclude coverage for these conditions for a limited period of time, usually one year or two years after which the insurer is required to cover the pre-existing conditions also. Many insurers also exclude pregnancy also for a certain period of time from coverage.

Individual health insurance policies: Insurers offering individual health insurance are not mandated on what to offer and what not, by law. So there are no dearths of insurances which offer coverage of all medical costs including those of investigations like a mammogram or a treatment like chiropractic treatment which may not be covered by the group health insurance.

The information regarding group health insurance, individual health insurance and various governments sponsored health insurance programs are available. So even if you have a group health insurance, it is better to opt for an individual health insurance so that all your medical expenses are covered.