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health insurance for small business owners
There is much more to be learned about accidental death policies, but we would like to mention one important element before we move on. An accidental death may not be instant. A person can die as a result of an accidental injury months after the accident occurrence. Read your policy carefully because most stipulate that the accidental death benefit will only be paid if death occurs within three months of the accident.
Catastrophic coverage pays hospital and medical expenses above a certain deductible; this can provide additional protection if you hold either a hospital-surgical policy or a major medical policy with a lower-than-adequate lifetime limit. These policies typically contain a very high deductible ($15,000 or more) and a maximum lifetime limit high enough to cover the costs of catastrophic illness.
Long-term care can be very expensive. On average, a year in a nursing home costs about $40,000. In some regions, it may cost much more. Home care is less expensive, but it still adds up. (Home care can include part-time skilled nursing care, speech therapy, physical or occupational therapy, home health aides, and homemakers.)
In most states you can be turned down for individual coverage if you have a very serious medical condition (e.g., HIV or cancer). Fortunately, even though they are not required to do so, most states have developed some way to provide uninsurable people with access to individual health insurance coverage. Thirty-three states provide coverage to medically uninsurable people through high-risk pools. Twelve states use other means of providing uninsurable people with access to individual coverage (e.g., requiring that all individual health insurance companies issue individual policies regardless of health status, coverage through a designated health insurance company of last resort, etc.). There are five states that still have no means of providing individual health insurance access to people with catastrophic medical conditions. To find out what your state's options are for medically uninsurable individuals, check out our Health Care Coverage Options Database.
So, before discussing the various plans that are available, we must first grasp an understanding of the complex nature of health insurance. Therefore, our first chapters are written specifically to help you understand the terminology and different components involved so that you can make those informed decisions and present it in plain English.
Determining when a benefit must be paid can be one of two different ways. The benefit period might begin either on the first day of an injury or illness or on the date that the insured meets the deductible and can extend up to two years. Or, the benefit period may cease at the end of a calendar year and begin with a new deductible.
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