Health Insurance has never been a hotter topic than it is right now, but regardless of any political intrigues about health care, the fact is that getting Comprehensive Hawaii Health Insurance is important because it means that you can rest considerably easier knowing that if you or your family do experience a significant health event that you can get access to good levels of care.
Health Care in the United States consumes around a sixth of the country’s GDP every year, which is roughly double that of the UK, and yet on many statistical measures the UK compares favorably for levels of health care service to the United States, despite only paying half as much for it.
Doctors Per 10,000 of Population – US – 26 – UK – 23
Nurses and Midwives Per 10,000 of Population – US – 94 – UK - 128
Hospital Beds Per 10,000 of Population – US – 31 – UK – 39
Percentage of Population Covered for Health Care – US – 84% - UK – 100%
Life Expectancy at Birth – US – 78 – UK – 80
Regardless though of whether or not you believe the health care system in the US needs radical overhaul (and certainly at least one in six of the Hawaiian population do, because they have no health insurance at all), the fact is that currently you do need to arrange good health insurance in order to be properly covered, and the area is somewhat of a minefield.
There are dozens of different schemes and federal systems, and in many ways it resembles a patchwork quilt of measures that are roughly stitched together to keep the system ticking along, but without any real cohesive plan to cure the patient of its ills.
As it is though the average cost of individual Hawaii Health Insurance was $232 a month in premium costs in 2010 according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, and so for that great a monthly expenditure it is reasonable to try to get good value for money.
There are several elements to consider with most health insurance policies and understanding them can be the difference between paying out large amounts and paying out considerably less in deductibles and other expenses.
Here are a couple of Hawaii Health Insurance Options:
1/ Indemnity or Fee for Service Plans
This type of insurance can be expensive, but it does offer great levels of flexibility.
The way this works is that you are able to get treatment from any Doctor or Hospital, and as long as you have paid enough deductibles, then your insurance company will pay 80% of the bill, and you would pay the other 20% which in insurance jargon is called ‘co-insurance’.
2/ Managed Care
There are considerably more rules with managed care provision, because the whole impetus behind the plans is to try to keep medical costs to a minimum. This is achieved by having less choice in where you can have treatments performed, less choice of medical staff, and by bulk buying treatment arrangements at the group level.
Some examples of managed care arrangements are HMOs (Health Maintenance Organizations) where you have to choose a primary care physician who will handle the overseeing of all your medical needs.
These can be more cost effective, but you have to stay within the network of hospitals and medical practitioners that they deal with in order for this to be the case.
There are also variations on the managed care dynamic in the form of POS Plans (Point of Service Plans), and PPO Plans (Preferred Provider Organization).
With all of these different options you should be careful to check how they treat pre-existing conditions, co-insurance stipulations, co-payments, what the limits of coverage are, deductibles and what the access to experts in other hospitals and drug programs is like.
Health Insurance is certainly a complicated area, but getting some Hawaii Health Insurance Quotes and then checking each of the above factors can certainly help you to get a better deal on your health care.
