The American healthcare system is enormous, and trillions of dollars are spent every single year on the health of American citizens. The modern American healthcare system is not a single-payer system like other nations have, meaning that healthcare is often privatized and Americans will deal with a health insurance company to cover healthcare costs. In this system, a responsible American adult will have their very own health plans and work with health insurance companies in their area to get proper health insurance plans. Good healthcare coverage may allow any citizen to breathe easy, and best of all, there’s a wide variety of different health insurance company plans out there for someone to choose from. Different people have different levels of healthcare needs, and no healthcare plan is one size fits all. Instead, a person may approach a health insurance company whose policies work best for them. How might this work out?
American Healthcare Today
Just how big is this industry? In a word: very. Statistics are being kept to track how often Americans need health care and how much they spend on it. For example, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has found that American healthcare expenditures totaled an impressive $3.2 trillion in 2015. In that year, around one third of that total spending was dedicated to hospital care alone. Meanwhile, spending on prescription drugs rose 9% from 2014 to 2015, and healthcare costs overall have increased 30% since 2015. This is including both deductibles and out-of-pocket costs. It may be noted that healthcare may be provided not only at hospitals and not only for surgery, but also visiting and consulting one’s private doctor or physician, or even getting drug prescriptions or taking one’s child to a pediatrician. All of this and more adds up to form the overall healthcare industry, and finding a good health insurance company to work with can help any person have good financial plans for healthcare. A single health insurance company in one’s area may offer a number of plans that a discerning customer may pick and choose from.
Finding Good Health Coverage
An adult American today will need to have the right healthcare coverage to suit their particular medical needs, based on how often they visit the hospital, take prescription drugs, or need surgery. A person may consult local healthcare insurance companies and browse the selection of healthcare coverage plans, and they may look online to find these. An online search in one’s area may help narrow this down, such as entering “healthcare coverage Broomfield Colorado” or “health insurance in Boston MA.” A person’s demographics or family size or health may affect what sort of plan they may need for themselves or others. Parents, for example, may soon get health insurance for their kids once those children are old enough to start going to the pediatrician. A younger, more fit adult may need only minimal healthcare coverage, if they don’t take any prescription drugs or are unlikely to suffer from an accident or chronic condition. Meanwhile, those who work on dangerous work sites such as construction may get more vigorous healthcare coverage from their employer and/or a health insurance company. Elderly Americans are more likely than younger adults to be hospitalized or suffer from chronic conditions and take prescription drugs, so they may consult a health insurance company for a more wide-ranging and rigorous plan. This may cost more than a minimal plan, but for the right patient, it may certainly be worth it.
A healthcare policy holder may pay a monthly premium, and the healthcare company collects all of these premiums to fund its coverage for policy holders. And after a policyholder gets medical care, he or she will pay a deductible, or an out of pocket expense, before their healthcare coverage takes over and pay the rest of the medical bill. The hospital, meanwhile, will generate the bill and send it to the patient’s healthcare company, which may then cover their part of the costs if the medical service rendered is covered by them. If it is not, then the patient will end up paying the full expense of the health coverage on their own. Deductibles might also be paid for services such as X-rays or for buying prescription drugs.