Finding affordable health insurance is like looking for the Holy Grail for many families. Depending on where you live in the country, a health insurance plan for a family can cost as much as $800–$1000 per month. Even if the cost is split between the employee and the employer, it is still a big part of almost anyone's monthly budget. Even though it's common to curse under your breath about how greedy the health insurance industry is, many people are shocked when they see how much medical care costs. For example, if you break your arm, the costs can easily add up to several thousand dollars.
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People's health is important to the Health Insurance Industry.
The high cost of health care is the direct cause of how much health insurance costs. It's a simple question of money. The more it costs to take care of each subscriber, the more insurance companies have to charge everyone. Because of this cost/expense ratio, most health insurance companies have come around to the idea of giving their subscribers preventive care. It makes good business sense. People who are healthy don't cost insurance companies a lot of money.
Accidents may be the first type of medical need that comes to mind when people think about getting health insurance, but the major insurance companies all agree that accidents aren't the biggest cost drain on medical resources. Diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and high blood pressure are all long-term illnesses that belong there. Because of this, it makes good business sense for health insurance companies to try to get their customers to adopt healthy habits that will keep them healthy. That pays off in special ways for people who care about their health.
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Costs are kept low by health benefits that keep people healthy.
Major health insurance companies usually offer routine physicals, medical screenings for all subscribers, discounts on health club and gym memberships, payment of dues for weight loss groups, and lower subscription fees for people who don't smoke.
Some health insurance companies and HMOs even do more to keep people from getting sick. Because babies are more likely to get hurt or die in car accidents, the Fallon Community Health Plan in Massachusetts has been working with local groups for years to give free car seats to families with newborns. In the same spirit of prevention, many HMOs offer free workshops on how to deal with stress and how to reduce it. This is because stress has been found to be a major risk factor for almost every major illness.
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Trying to Find a Cure
In the search for affordable health care, health insurance companies and HMOs have also helped fund research and health projects all over the country. In order to lower the cost of health care, the health insurance industry spends millions of dollars each year on medical research. Their money pays for grants to sign up people with low incomes and other hard-to-insure groups, and to give eye, dental, and health care to poor people in cities and rural areas. The health care industry thinks that regular preventive eye and dental care, as well as regular medical screenings and physicals, can find illnesses early on and keep them from getting worse and getting too expensive to treat.
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Learn how to get the most out of your health insurance.
Since you pay for it, you should get the most out of your health insurance plan as you can. Here are some ideas for how you can make your health insurance plan work for you:
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- Join a gym.
Check to see what benefits your HMO or health insurance plan gives you. There's a good chance that one of them is a coupon for a gym or health club membership. Get in shape. It will save THEM money, but it could save YOUR life.
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- Lose weight.
Use nutritional counselling and support groups for people who want to lose weight to get to your ideal weight. Added bonus? Many health insurance plans give people who are at a healthy weight a lower cost tier.
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- Quit smoking.
People who don't smoke also tend to have lower health insurance rates. A lot of HMOs and health insurance companies offer free programmes to help you stop smoking and get healthy.
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- Get checked out by a doctor and go to health fairs.
Many health insurance companies put on "wellness fairs" where you can get your blood pressure checked, get free medical screenings, and learn about massage therapy, acupuncture, and yoga as alternative medical treatments. Use special events to learn more and improve your health.
People may like to make fun of the health insurance industry, but now more than ever, the industry has a vested interest in keeping you healthy. Visit your health insurance company's website or call customer service to find out what they have to offer.
