Medical and health insurance are two words that most people often confuse.
The two terms are mostly used interchangeably, but they have minor differences between them that need to be addressed.
Contents
The article shows differences between the two terms:
What is Medical Insurance?
Medical insurance is a type of insurance that takes care of medical necessities when one falls sick or faces a calamity.
In simpler terms, medical insurance is defined as insurance that provides restricted treatment to hospitalization expenditures and coverage towards pre-stated conditions and accidents.
In many countries, medical insurances do not provide any supplementary coverage; it is purely based on the amount assured, and it cannot exceed the allocated amount.
The healthcare rates across the world are becoming expensive for ordinary individuals or people from poor backgrounds, hence making it a priority for people to acquire medical insurances for each member of the family.
Medical insurance allows us to pay affordable premiums and leave the worries of expenses in the possibility of hospitalization on the shoulders of the insurance company.
One does not need to dig deeper into their pockets or savings during the duration of the policy as all expenses related to the disease stated in the medical insurance are met by the insurance company.
The medical insurance policy has two main claims;
1. Cashless
Cashless is a claim whereby the person insured goes for treatment at any hospital that is fully covered by the insurance organization.
The individual will receive any treatment, and the company will deal with all the hospital expenses, relieving the insured person away from money stress.
2. Reimbursement
Reimbursement is a type of claim where an individual tells the insurance company about his/her treatment at a specified hospital before hospitalization or right on admission.
For this type of claim, all the original files, such as hospital bills, extra charges, and discharge documents are always mandatory during the claiming process.
What are the Types of Medical Insurance Policies?
Different countries have different medical insurance policies.
However, some are common across the board.
They include;
Individual Medical Insurance Policy
This is a type of insurance policy that provides medical coverage to a specific person who is insured with an indicated amount of money.
The system only allows one individual to claim the expenses.
Family Floater Medical Insurance Policy
This is a type of medical policy that is given to an individual and extends to the entire family.
However, if the insured person reaches the stated age or dies, then the family members are not allowed to renew the policy.
Under this policy, if the insured’s other family member gets unwell, the medical expenses are fully paid by the insurance company
Pre-existing Disease Cover Policy
In this medical policy, an individual is allowed to be insured against all underlying ailments before acquiring the policy.
The policy also includes diseases that might occur in the future.
It deals with pre-existing and post-existing conditions of a person.
Renewability Age
This category belongs to all medical policies that tend to expire after a year.
The policies are renewed annually.
However, when the insured purchases such policies at a tender age, low premiums are paid plus extra benefits.
What is Health Insurance?
Health insurance is a coverage that covers a part or the entire risk of a person’s incurring medical expenditures before and post-hospitalization.
The costs include travel to and from the hospital with an ambulance, bills, and discharge expenses.
The cover has a broad spectrum of losses from accidents, disabilities, medical expenditures, or accidental death.
Health insurance is also an agreement between one person or a team of people and the insurance company whereby the insurance company undertakes to cover the medical expenses incurred by policyholders to the tune of the amount mentioned in the policy.
The amount of premium is dependent upon, not just the diseases or illnesses covered, but also the age and sex of the policyholder as well as his present age and medical condition.
What are the Types of Health Insurance Policies?
Health insurances vary depending on which country you are in.
Most of the universal health insurance policies that cater to any medical emergency include:
1. Individual Health Insurance Policy
This is a health insurance plan that offers medical coverage to an individual who is insured against any type of disease that he might suffer from.
The policy also covers for extra therapeutic benefits.
2. Family Floater Health Insurance Policy
This is an insurance that ensures all the family members against any medical expenses. The family is provided with a secure amount of cash for coverage.
The insurance can be used by the person insured or his/her entire family suffering from any disease.
3. Pre-existing Disease Cover Policy
This is a type of health insurance plan that an insured person is covered for pre-existing conditions and any condition or disease that might arise in the future.
The insured person is allowed to give details of the previous conditions and the rate of recurring.
4. Critical Illness and Surgical Plan
This is a type of health insurance policy that covers an individual against surgical and critical conditions.
The conditions may include heart attack, cancer, and any virus.
5. Senior Citizen Health Insurance Policy
This is a special type of health insurance that covers all health-related conditions and problems that come about the old age.
Such policies vary from country to country, depending on the life span of their citizens.
All conditions are included in the plan for only senior citizens.
6. Preventative Healthcare Policy
This is a type of health insurance that deals with all medical check-ups and other extra expenses that come about check-ups in the hospitals.
They may include doctor consultation fees, laboratory fees, and medicine payment.
What is the difference between Medical Insurance and Health Insurance?
Before an individual decides on whether to go for a medical or health insurance, they should always consider the following differences when choosing.
They include;
- Health insurance offers a complete cover that deals with all hospital charges and expenses both before and after hospitalization, while medical insurance deals with hospital expenses of stated conditions and accidents.
- Health insurance provides additional covers like disability, accidents, and critical diseases, while medical insurance does not offer any extra cover.
- Health insurance offers flexibility where insured individuals can change their terms at any particular time; for instance, reducing the policy duration or policy amount while medical insurance does not provide space for flexibility.