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Tips For Choosing The Right Health Insurance

Purchasing health insurance is a vital step to take in protecting your health for the long term. The unexpected happens, and health insurance can help in paying for what you can't pay for out of pocket. Finding the right health insurance requires your time, knowledge and patience, as well as your idea of what you're looking for. The tips below will get you going in the right direction.

Help keep your portion of health insurance costs low by taking advantage of perks your employer may offer. For example, a company may offer a rebate of the cost of one monthly premium when you provide proof of a preventative checkup. Read your employee manual or talk to HR to see what incentives your company offers.

To defray the cost of medical expenses, you should carry health insurance. Even though you may have a savings account, medical bills can still wipe you out financially because they are often much more than any cash you may have on hand. For instance, an appendectomy can cost as much as $32,000 and heart surgery can be as high as $100,000, depending on what you're having done. These are expenses that would have to come out of your pocket, if you don't have insurance.

Check into individual coverage, as you may get a better rate than with going with a group plan. The downside to group coverage is that everyone is accepted. This means that the premiums must be higher to help account for those who may become ill or need emergency care.

If there is a specific doctor that you would like to see, make sure that the insurance plan you are going to be getting is taken by that doctor. This is important, because if that doctor does not take your insurance, you could end up with someone that you do not feel comfortable with.

Get quotes for health insurance as you would for car insurance. You can get quotes from different companies and then compare the benefits offered from these companies. Be sure to look into each company's history and financial situation so you do not find yourself uncovered when you need it most.

Consider the pros and cons of the more info different types of health insurance plans that are available. You will need to research Health Maintenance Organization (HMO), Preferred Provider Organization (PPO), Point of Service (POS), Health Savings Account (HSA) and traditional indemnity. Find as much information as possible about each kind before enrolling into the program.

If a pregnancy is in your near future, make sure you are fully prepared by investing in insurance that will cover all of the related medical expenses. You should know this because there are health insurance plans that do not cover certain procedures pertaining to pregnancy and labor.

When you're admitted to a hospital, expect a great deal of documentation from your health insurance company as well as all the other people and groups who may have treated you. Although it can be bewildering, please make the effort to thread your way through the insurance bill details so that you can be completely sure you understand what you were charged for. This way if something was not covered to your satisfaction, you will be able to identify it and call it out to the health insurance company for follow-up.

Health insurance can be very complex, particularly if you are purchasing a plan on your own. There are so many different companies, with different policies and levels of coverage. It can be very confusing. Use the advice in this article to help you choose an affordable plan that will meet your needs.

Telehealth changing care from outer space to local clinics

A coach for the Detroit Red Wings hockey team beams an ultrasound image of a player's ankle from the locker room to a nearby hospital. Doctors diagnose a fracture.

A similar ultrasound device, miles above on the international space station, peers into astronauts' chests and examines how their lungs weathered a recent spacewalk.

Welcome to the world of telehealth. Those examples are a few from the field, more narrowly defined as telemedicine. Telehealth uses digital technology to project a doctor's presence in places as different as rural Kansas and outer space, without the patient ever stepping into a physician's office.

Telehealth made a shaky debut in the early 1990s, when high costs, regulatory barriers and plodding Internet speeds hampered its acceptance. But today, improved technology and falling costs have made innovations like videoconferencing, home medical monitoring and digital records available to more Americans.

It has even become a White House priority.

"The 21st century health care system is using a 19th century paperwork system," President Bush said during an address last month in Baltimore.

Bush cited the subject in his State of the Union address this year, asking Congress for $100 million to improve health care information technology. A presidential committee has said it will release a report in June recommending that federal agencies make it an integral part of the nation's health care planning.

Interest in better medical oversight has spiked since a federal study in 1999 estimated that 98,000 people die annually from medical errors that occur in hospitals -- some of which could be prevented by computerized systems to check prescriptions, monitor drug interactions and offer better access to records.

"Patients will be the greatest winners," said Jeffrey Dunbar, who founded a telemedicine firm in the mid-1990s and now works for Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. "The technology has come a great way ... We have taken a quantum leap in the past five years."

https://edition.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/05/10/tele.health.final/index.html