Types of Health Insurance
Health insurance is designed to protect against loss of income
and expenses for medical care. There are two broad categories of
health insurance policies: disability income policies and
medical expense policies.
Disability income policies can also be referred to as loss of
income, loss of time or replacement income. This type of policy
will pay benefits to an insured who is disabled and can no
longer work to earn a regular income. Payments can be weekly or
monthly depending on the policy.
Medical expense policies are represented by a wide range of
coverage from very minimal to comprehensive packages with
multiple coverage. Some include both accidents and illnesses,
various hospital expenses and other costs pertaining to medical
care such as accident and sickness policies, hospital-stay
policies, basic medical expense policies and major medical
expense policies.
Any of these policies might cover various combinations of the
above and may be paid in a lump sum.Some policies cover only
accidents and not illness. As you might imagine, policies like
this are very specific about what is considered an accident.
It is important to understand what is defined as an accident as
it pertains to the health insurance industry: an accident is an
event that is unforeseen and unintended.
Keep in mind that any discussion of this type of policy also
applies to any type of policy that includes accidental coverage,
not just accident specific policies.
Accident benefits are most commonly paid for accidental loss of
life (also called accidental death), accidental loss of limb or
sight (dismemberment), loss of time and/or income, hospital
expenses, surgical expenses, and medical expenses like visits to
the doctor.
Accidental death benefit can also be referred to as "principal
sum." This type of coverage should not be confused with life
insurance. There is a world of difference between the two. Life
insurance policies will generally be paid regardless of the
cause of death. An accidental benefit is paid ONLY if the death
is accidental as opposed to a death by natural causes or illness.
The person who receives the death benefit is called the
beneficiary. The policy owner has the right and responsibility
of naming beneficiaries. Usually there is a primary beneficiary
however he/she can assign a second and even a third beneficiary.
The primary beneficiary is the first person in line to receive
the benefit in the event of the death of the policy holder. The
policy owner can also name a second beneficiary who would
receive the benefit in the event the primary beneficiary dies
before the insured. Some policies can include a third
beneficiary who would be in line after the first two.
There is another important element in regard to accident
policies: An accidental death may not be instant. A person can
die as a result of an accidental injury months after the
accident occurrence. Read your policy carefully because most
stipulate that the accidental death benefit will only be paid if
death occurs within three months of the accident.