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What is Health Insurance?
Health insurance is a type of insurance coverage that covers the cost of an insured individual’s medical and surgical expenses.
In health insurance terminology, a clinic, hospital, doctor, laboratory, healthcare practitioner, or pharmacy that treats an individual is known as the “provider.” The “insured” is the owner of the health insurance policy or the person with the health insurance coverage.
Depending on the type of health insurance coverage, either the insured pays costs out of pocket and is then reimbursed, or the insurer makes payments directly to the provider.
In countries without universal healthcare coverage, such as the United States, health insurance is commonly included in employer benefit packages. It is often seen as an employment perk.
In the U.S., the number of uninsured people has decreased from 44 million to less than 28 million, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. The researchers put this down to recent changes in legislation.
A Commonwealth Fund 2011 report informed that one-fourth of all U.S. citizens of working age experienced a gap in health insurance coverage. Many people in the survey lost their health insurance when they either became unemployed or changed jobs.
The level of treatment in emergency departments varies significantly depending on what type of health insurance a person has.
Types of Health Insurance
There are two main types of health insurance:
Private health insurance: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say that the U.S. healthcare system relies heavily on private health insurance. In the National Health Interview Survey, researchers found that 65 percent of people under the age of 65 years in the U.S. have a type of private health insurance coverage.
Public or government health insurance: In this type of insurance, the state subsidizes healthcare in exchange for a premium. Medicare, Medicaid, the Veteran’s Health Administration, and the Indian Health Service are examples of public health insurance in the U.S.