Importance of Health Insurance

A health insurance policy is designed to cover the costs of medical care in the event it is needed. In most developed countries, health care is provided by the state to the citizens for free. Private health care exists alongside state provision for those who want it. The United States of America is the notable exception to this. In that country, health care is provided by private organisations and its cost is largely covered by health insurance policies provided by companies to their employees. Not all companies provide health insurance to their employees. Therefore, at any given time, there is usually a substantial minority of the population without any health insurance provision.

Health insurance plans vary greatly in exactly what health treatments are covered.  It is not uncommon for disputes to occur between the insuree and the insurance provider when the insuree falls ill and requests coverage of a particularly expensive treatment. Some health insurance policies provide for regular health check-ups of the insured person or persons. Many health insurance policies apply to whole families rather than to individuals.

Naturally enough, many health insurance providers screen applicants carefully, examining their medical history and sometime performing health checks on them before deciding whether to offer insurance coverage and what the price of that insurance coverage should be.