The world is battling a healthcare crisis with the pandemic outbreak. This is increasing the number of discussions around health insurance, medical bills, and the increasing spending on healthcare. The fear that one might catch the pandemic is constantly gripping everyone. And people are rushing to check if their employer-funded insurance or the government-sponsored healthcare plan covers the pandemic expenses.
Health insurance eases the financial burden of a person or a family from the numerous costs of surgery, emergency, or other critical illness. While most of us are willing to go that extra mile and get the best insurance plan covering our expenses, there are still a few illnesses that even the best of health insurance policy might not cover.
Pre-Existing Problems
Before you take a health care policy, you’re supposed to disclose all the pre-existing health conditions. This will determine health care coverage and premium expenses. It is best to disclose all health issues that you have at the time of taking a health insurance policy as the insurance provider will do a background check anyway. And if they happen to find out about a medical condition that you have, but have not disclosed, they might cancel your policy request and blacklist you.
This will mean that you might not get an insurance cover or will have to settle for an expensive plan. However, no matter how much you shell out for your health insurance plan, it will not cover the cost of your pre-existing conditions. But remember that a few private health insurance providers might let you get a cover for your pre-existing diseases by paying out some extra money. So, do ask your insurance provider about it before signing the dotted line.
Cosmetic and Non-Essential Surgeries
Health insurance is meant to help you meet the financial expenditure of emergency, medical expenses, and surgeries. However, a lot of people believe that it covers surgeries of all kinds. If you think so, too, think again. Most health insurance companies do not cover cosmetic and non-essential surgeries. According to the ASPS data, the number of cosmetic surgeries in women is up by 538% from 1997 to 2015. During the same period, the rise in these surgeries in men went up by 325%.
This increase in demand is one of the major reasons why most health insurance plans do not cover cosmetic surgeries. The most common cosmetic surgeries that health insurance providers refuse to cover are Liposuction, Breast Augmentation, and Eyelid Surgery. However, there are certain exceptions to this. For instance, there might be a few instances where a tummy tuck or liposuction might be clinically necessary. In such cases, your health insurance provider might offer to cover the expenses. One such case where liposuction might be clinically needed is if the person is morbidly obese, and the only way to save their life is through drastic weight reduction.
Travel Vaccines
Traveling to a few countries might require you to get a few vaccine shots. Most of the time, these are expensive and are for more than one disease. As it is expensive and a preventive care measure, most people believe that their health insurance covers these costs. However, most insurance providers consider travel insurance as an optional or elective vaccine, something that you do not mandatorily need. So, they do not cover the costs of these injections.
However, this does not mean that your insurance provider will not cover the cost of other vaccines. For instance, your insurance provider will pick the cost of your flu shots and tetanus shots that you will need to maintain good health. In other words, your health insurance will cover the cost of all the medically necessary vaccines.
These are just a few among the most common exceptions to a travel plan. While there’s no policy available that covers all your healthcare needs. You could always do ample research and make sure you pick a plan that best fits your needs. You could do this by listing out all the available plans, filtering out the ones that match your needs, and deciding on the one that matches your budget too perfectly. Besides that, you might also want to check all the network hospitals that your insurance provider covers.
