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Before putting an insight into health insurance, let us get acquainted with insurance, its types and its purpose. Insurance is a contract between a person who buys insurance and the company who sold the insurance policy. By entering into contract the insurance company agrees to pay the person holding the policy or his family members a predetermined sum of money in case of an unfortunate event for a predetermined fixed sum payable which is called Insurance Premium. Basically speaking, insurance is a protection against a financial loss on account of occurrence of an unexpected event. Insurance companies collect premiums to provide for this kind of protection. A person can build a shield of protection around himself and his family members and insure against an unfortunate event by paying a very small sum of money. For example, if a person buys a Life Insurance Policy by paying a premium to the Insurance company, the family members of injured person get a fixed compensation in case of unfortunate event like death. There are various kinds of Insurance such as Life Insurance, Vehicle Insurance, Home Insurance, Travel Insurance, Health Insurance etc. All of these have their own importance in the life of a person and his family. Now let us get to the root of health insurance.

What is health insurance Health insurance is that form of insurance that pays for all or part of a persons health care and medical bills. There are various forms of health insurance. These include group health plans, individual plans, workers compensation, etc. Health insurance is an insurance policy that insures a person and his family against any kind of medical expenses. The medical expenses will be born by the insurance company if one pays his premium regularly. Cover includes pre-hospitalization for 30 days and post-hospitalization for 60 days. It covers domiciliary hospitalization as well. Now its time to become familiar with the benefits of taking health insurance.

As all of us know that the cost of doctors fees, expenses of medicine and hospitalization are getting dearer and dearer with each day. These rising medical expenses take no time in burning a hole in ones pocket during a medical illness or emergency. So it is essential to take an important step in the form of health insurance. By taking a health insurance policy a person can safeguard himself and his family from the onus of high cost of treatment. Besides this a health insurance policy has several other advantages. It reimburses the medical expenses, there is discount on insurance premium on family package, there is a certain margin on which the premium paid is exempt from income and a good feature is that the premiums are lower for the younger people. A term Domiciliary Hospitalization has been stated above. What does it mean It means that a patient can be given treatment at home when he is able to be transferred to the hospital or there is no accommodation in the hospital (Pitts, n.d.).

Let us now peep into the history of the plans of the health insurance. The credit for proposing about the health insurance plans goes to Hugh the Elder Chamberlen from the Peter Chamberlen family. It was the accidental insurance that came into being first of all the health insurance policies. This was similar to the modern day disability insurance. This type of policies was in continuation till the beginning of the 20th century. Franklin Health insurance Company of Massachusetts, founded in 1850, first launched the accidental insurance. Insurance was provided by them to the persons suffering who got injuries due to railroads and steamboats accidents. By the year 1966, sixty companies had started offering accidental insurance in the United States. Then during the later part of 20th century modern health insurance programs came into being. Slowly and steadily the present day Medicare policies evolved, which include preventives, health care procedures, etc. (Evolution of Health Insurance, 2009).

There are multiple options that must be taken into consideration while deciding what type of health insurance would be most advantageous for ones family, whether a group health plan is offered or not by the individuals employer and whether the needs of an individuals family will be met or not. Basically family insurance is the addition of family members to the individual health insurance. Nowadays individual health care plans provide more flexibility to an individual. These can be directly purchased from a health insurance provider and give the individuals the choice to choose their company, plan features and coverage level. Group health insurance plans are the best choice for the individuals who are looking for the best health insurance rates and coverage for their dear ones.

This is the cheapest option as individual plans can be costly. All the terms of a policy must be understood well while purchasing individual health insurance (Family Health Insurance, n.d.) There may be a few queries that may pop up in ones mind. Firstly, what types of policies are available. Secondly, by what companies these policies are offered. Thirdly, what is and is not covered by the policy and effects of higher or lower deductible. The individuals must ensure that the insurance company and the agent have good reputation. Moreover, it is better to understand how to pay premiums. Paying the premiums in lump sum has its own benefits as with this one gets pre-payment discounts and may be exempted from expensive service fees. But the amount saved may differ as per provider and plan. A higher deductible may be considered by the individuals and their families that are healthy and need less medical attention. Higher deductible health insurance policies usually have lower premiums than lower deductible policies. Insured persons must be apprised of the terms and conditions of the coverage of the plan purchased by them. Pre-existing conditions of illness, self inflicted injuries, suicide attempts etc are not liable to get the expenses from the insurance provider. Thus in order to get maximum benefits one must purchase a health insurance plan during early age as health insurance is the healthy way of living.