Health Insurance

When you or a family member becomes seriously ill, you may experience not only emotional turmoil and physical fatigue but also financial difficulties.

After all, medical treatments can get very expensive and hospital or treatment fees can accumulate over time. Without the proper health insurance coverage, you can get deep in debt and wind up making payments for hospital bills for the rest of your life.

This is something you don’t want, so it’s crucial to find an affordable healthcare plan tailored just for you.

Protection from High Healthcare Costs

Health insurance can help protect you from the high healthcare costs arising from illness or injury and ensure you have access to regular healthcare, such as exams, tests, preventive care, and vaccines.

Aside from these benefits, health insurance in California covers many different basic services, such as:

Hospital care
Primary care doctor and specialist visits
Outpatient procedures
Laboratory tests and diagnostic services
Pregnancy and newborn care
Mental health care
Emergency and urgent care
Rehabilitation therapy

Also called "essential health benefits," the above items form part of the minimum essential coverage in policies. This is because California law generally requires health insurance policies to cover these essential health benefits, which include services like diabetes supplies, maternity care, cancer screening, transgender healthcare, and substance abuse treatment.

Costs and Terms to Consider

Although insurance helps pay for healthcare, you still need to pay for a percentage of the costs. Some costs to consider include the:

Premium: A fee you (or your employer) must pay for you to have and utilize insurance.
Deductible: This refers to the amount you need to pay every year before your insurance starts to pay.

Some key health insurance terms to remember include:

Co-insurance: This represents the part of each hospital bill that you are required to pay after you've met your deductible. For example, if your insurance covers 90% of the charges, you have to pay the other 10% – which is what is called the co-insurance.
Co-pay: This is a fixed or flat amount you’ll be asked to pay for each visit to a doctor or prescription. For example, a co-pay of $20 may be needed for a doctor's visit or $15 for filling a prescription.
Annual out-of-pocket limit: Once you reach this limit, you may no longer be required to pay any more co-pays or co-insurance for the applicable year, although the limit may not include prescription drugs. To be sure, check your policy to know the way this limit works.

If you have any questions about health insurance or you’re ready to get the protection you need, please contact Crescenta Valley Insurance.