The truth of the matter is that more often than not when someone is begging for help because they don’t have any health insurance it is because they decided that they just didn’t want to pay for it. They had other priorities like riding a dirt-bike through the wooded trails or snowmobiling at 70 miles per hour after that stop at the bar. This is certainly a better use of money than buying health insurance to protect yourself and your family from financial disaster. Right? I guess that’s why congress finally decided that they also have had enough of this and passed a law that says that everybody must have health insurance. I agree! Everyone should have health insurance. Although Congress doesn’t have the authority to require every American citizen to purchase insurance, it might actually be a good idea.

There is one thing though that I noticed as a result of the new law that congress passed. My taxes went up and so did my health insurance premiums. I guess, despite this new law, I still have to pay for that guy who refused to be responsible and buy his own health insurance. Only now I just don’t have a choice in the matter. Oh, and by the way, here’s a $50.00 bill for that fund to help that guy who didn’t go along with the new health care law and wrapped his bike around a tree.

When it comes to travel, one of the last things that might be on your mind is whether or not your health insurance will pay if you need health care while out of the country.  The truth is that when you are out of the country most U.S. health insurance only will pay for emergency care and then under limited circumstances.  If you have Medicare as your only insurance you are totally on your own for any medical care outside the U.S.A.   Another thing that might not come to mind is what do you do if you are in a foreign hospital and don’t speak the language or are just having difficulty communicating.  What if you need emergency evacuation or urgent medical transportation from a remote area?

The solution is that there are some very good International Insurance companies that provide medical coverage as well as care management, emergency evacuations, trip interruption and many other important coverages for people who are traveling outside their home country.  These coverages and services can be purchased for a very reasonable cost and should be considered by anyone who is planning a trip outside the country.  Check out the link from the website www.daininginsurance.com for some very good options.

When I talk to people about health insurance I often get blank stares when I ask people if they are looking for a Major-med or Mini-med policy.  Let me try to explain.   A major-medical policy is a plan that although won’t pay for everything will provide coverage for the major needs in your health care and has very high or no limits to how much it will pay if you need significantly costly health care.  The Mini-med is a policy that has significant limits in the policy.  It has limits on how much it will pay and for which items it will pay.  For example, the other day someone came into my office with a “mini-med” policy that will pay up to $50 per doctor’s office visit for a maximum of two visits per year and no more than three office visits in three years.  This policy would also pay for up to $200 a day for a hospital stay for a maximum number of days.  With a “Major-med” policy you might have a deductible you pay and then the insurance company shares your costs to a certain limit before it pays 100% of your medical bills.  The premium on the “mini-med” is significantly lower than the premium on the “Major-med”.  So what should you have?

The answer isn’t as tough as you might think.  The question comes down to what do you buy the insurance for?  Are you trying to cover the major risks or the mini risks?  The major risks are things like broken bones, cancer, stroke, heart attack and the mini risks are things like the common cold, stitches and flue.  In my opinion the real point of insurance is to cover the major risks first and if you want then the minor risks.  I’ve run into people who have only a mini-med policy and are happy with the low premiums but don’t realize that the major risks are barely covered.  If they are diagnosed with cancer and only have a mini-med policy, the policy will run out of money to pay their bills after only a few hundred or maybe a few thousand dollars.  What will they do then to pay for the tens of thousands of dollars to treat the cancer?  Everyone should instead have a “major-medical” policy where you will have a few hundred or even a couple thousand dollars out of pocket to treat a major illness but the policy will pay for the tens of thousands that it takes for treatment of the entire illness. 

In my opinion, the “mini-med” policy has its place in the insurance marketplace but not as a substitute for a major-med policy.  Its place is to fill gaps in major medical policies that you might wish to pay a small additional premium to fill.  Some have said to me that a mini-med is better than no insurance at all.  I disagree if having a mini-med policy stops you from getting the major medical coverage you need.  If that’s the case it is worse than having no coverage at all.   Don’t be penny wise and dollar foolish by only have a mini-med to take care of your health care needs.

What other financial risks do I have that I should or just want to transfer to someone else?  I have a financial risk of losing my income if I am injured or very sick.  I can buy disability income insurance.  If I die my family has a significant loss of all my future income that would have supported them.  Thus there is life insurance.  When I travel there is risk.  When I play on my boat there is risk that I might run into something.  As I live there is risk that I might get sick or injured and need a doctor or hospital.  All these things have a potential of financial loss to me and my family.  I can use the financial tool of insurance to transfer that risk to an insurance company or I can keep that risk for myself by “self insuring”.  Sometimes I might choose to share the risk with the insurance company by buying something like a higher deductible policy such as a Health Savings Account health insurance plan.  This way I pick up the smaller risks, the deductible, and the insurance company gets the larger risk like the hospital stay or major surgery.

The bottom line is that you can transfer the financial risk for just about anything.  Some risks are too large for the average person to reasonably take upon themselves and others are simply a matter of choice.  The biggest problem I see is that some people never really think about the risks and responsibilities that they have and simply “self insure” their responsibilities and financial risks by simply doing nothing.  Please at least take the time to think about it and act responsibly.