A+ Guide to Choosing the Healthcare Plan That Best Suits You
In today’s fast-paced lifestyle and especially with the ongoing pandemic, a healthcare plan has become a necessity to safeguard your savings, protect your family, fight lifestyle diseases, and insure early to secure yourself when unforeseen health incidents take place.
With the rising cost of medical expenses and access to good medical facilities may be limited, locally or internationally, having an insurance policy can be extremely useful in any medical exigencies.
A healthcare plan is medical insurance coverage that generally pays for medical, surgical, prescription drugs, and sometimes dental expenses incurred by the insured. When the insured gets an illness or injury, he can reimburse the expenses or the healthcare provider will pay the care directly.
The importance of having a healthcare plan
Insuring yourself with a healthcare plan is the best way to protect you and your family from financial strain in the event of serious illness or accident. For example, a person who has no healthcare plan suddenly suffered a broken arm. The diagnosis and non-surgical treatment for this condition can cost up to $2,500 or more. And if it requires surgery, the cost can escalate to a minimum of $16,000.
If you have health insurance, you can:
- Avoid paying a large sum of medical expenses
- Get treated as soon as possible in case of accidents and emergencies
Visit your doctor to get the care you need to stay healthy and prevent serious illnesses - Have peace of mind knowing that you are protected if anything happens
Things to consider before getting one
Choosing the right plan for you can be confusing and complicated. With a lot of things to consider such as coverage and care, how do you make the right choice? Here are the major things you need to know:
- Know your coverage needs. The very first thing to keep in mind is how much each plan will pay to cover your medical expenses and what coverage you want, or you need. Is general ward or semi-private room hospital accommodation acceptable to you? Do you prefer to be treated locally or internationally especially in high cost with high expertise places like Hong Kong, USA or Canada? Think also of all the possible scenarios that can happen unexpectedly, like cancer, injury or an accident. While the coverage may seem high at first, you may be shocked at how quickly you will reach that limit if you were to face a critical health issue in the future.
- Consider Inpatient only or Inpatient + Outpatient cover. In your policy, there are two types of hospital care that it may cover: inpatient and outpatient care. Inpatient care is a medical service that requires admission into a hospital or medical facility such as treating a surgery, organ transplants, and staying in the ICU. Outpatient care does not require a prolonged stay at a facility, like scheduled health checkups or visits to clinics. Do you only need inpatient care or both? It’s important to know it in your plan.
- Consider out-of-pocket expenses. List down the things that you need to pay on your own because they are not covered by insurance. Your out-of-pocket expenses may include:
- Deductibles. Before your insurance starts to help pay for covered services, there is a certain amount of money you must spend beforehand and it’s called a deductible.
- Copayment. This is a fixed amount covered for a medical service. For example, you are required to pay $30 each time you visit your primary care doctor or specialist.
- Coinsurance. Check your insurance policy if it has a coinsurance amount. This out-of-pocket expense is typically 80/20. You might have to pay 20% while your insurance provider will cover the remaining 80%.
- Decide if it’s a local or international plan. The insurance plan that best suits you strongly depends on personal situation. Consider these things: your way of work, your current health, the quality of the local healthcare systems and hospitals, and your need to travel frequently or change the country of residence.
- Total your maximum costs against your budget. Now, add up all the costs you need to end up paying for each plan you’re interested in. This includes monthly premiums and out-of-pocket expenses. If you know that you are in poor health or want to make sure that you will not suffer from expensive medical costs due to an accident, you may opt to go with a plan that has higher premiums or more coverage.
- Get an expert advice to fine tune the policy that is right for you. When after all the research, computations and considerations but you still cannot decide or still confused which plan to get, it is always wise to get advice from any qualified partners or insurance brokers to help you customize the plan according to your needs and resources.
Why Choose an International Healthcare Plan?
In general, having an international healthcare plan is like having the best of both worlds. You get to enjoy high-quality medical coverage in your home country and at the same time, get protected wherever you are around the world. No matter what happens, world-class care is within reach.
An international healthcare coverage may sound expensive but it does not have to be. With A+ International Health Plans, you can have access to a network of 10,000 doctors, hospitals, and clinics in more than 150 countries. Each of our health plans is tailored to your specific needs. For as low as $28/month, EasyCare+ gives you international protection, whether you plan to travel or if you want to get the best healthcare locally.
Contact us to get in touch with our Brokers or Get a Quote now.
Since 2008, A+ International Healthcare has been providing best-in-class medical health plans around the world. To know more about our products and services, visit http://www.aplusii.com, or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter for more updates.
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