Health Care Resources - How To Get Affordable Supplemental Health Care Insurance For Seniors

Are you familiar with supplemental health care insurance? Many people are not; these days, most people sign up with their employer-sponsored health care insurance plans, or purchase individual health care insurance plans if their employers do not provide health benefits. While these methods work for many individuals, seniors should consider purchasing affordable supplemental health care insurance.

Below are some of the most frequently asked questions about supplemental health care insurance for seniors.

What is supplemental health care insurance?

Simply put, supplemental health care insurance kicks in and pays for what your regular health insurance policy does not.

Why should seniors consider purchasing supplemental health care insurance?

Seniors don't always have the steady income that younger individuals have. If a senior's regular health insurance plan doesn't cover a significant portion of health care services, it may be difficult for the senior to pay for the gap between what is covered and what is not. Some seniors have a nest egg set aside to handle situations such as these; some even have separate insurance policies they can fall back on, such as life insurance policies. However, not all seniors have the extra money set aside to cover the gap in health care insurance; an affordable, supplemental health care insurance would work for them.

What does supplemental health care insurance provide?

The kind of coverage available with an insurance plan always depends on the insurance company from which you purchase the plan. Many supplemental health care insurance plans offer cash benefits and compensation for lost income. Some supplemental health care insurance plans even cover pre-existing conditions; pre-existing conditions are prevalent among seniors.

Do I need supplemental health care insurance if I already have Medicare?

Yes, having an affordable supplemental health care insurance plan is especially wise for seniors with Medicare, as Medicare doesn't often cover long-term health care, care provided at home or in a nursing home, or the costs of prescription medication.

Health Care Resources - Behind The Scenes With A Health Care Management Degree Online

When an individual walks into a hospital they expect to see a nurse, a doctor and possibly even a receptionist. The reason to even go to a hospital is to see a doctor who can hopefully cure whatever ailment an individual may have. While doctors and nurses are in the forefront diagnosing diseases and administering treatments, there are individuals behind the scene that do not first come to mind when thinking of a hospital. These individuals keep everything in the hospital running as smooth as possible and operate the administrative side. These professionals are trained in health care management and one of the easiest ways to do so is by receiving a health care management degree online.

The health care field is one of the fastest and most competitive career fields around. With that, it is important for professionals in the field to stay competitive. One way for individuals to stay competitive is to receive a health care management degree online. By receiving an online degree in health care management, professionals or aspiring professionals are given a better understanding of the health care profession as a whole and improve their assessment and management skills. By receiving an advanced degree, an individual will become more marketable in the job search field, as well as a better possibility for upward mobility in their current career. Receiving a degree online also affords professionals the comfort of completing course work at home, as well as the flexibility of maintaining a full-time job.

The goal of a health care management degree online program is to train professionals in the health care industry to make operations more efficient and competitive. Going through a degree program, individuals will be able to analyze health care as a whole and historical data important to the health care field. They will also receive skills in critical listening and reading, as well as being able to communicate effectively. While these skills may not appear to have anything to do with health care, they are essential to the field. It is important for health care management professionals to listen to the needs of the patients, as well as the doctors. They need to be effective problem-solvers and mediators as well.

The course work associated with a health care management degree online program reinforces these skills needed in the work place. Students are required to learn about the anatomy of the body so they can answer questions correctly and understand what a patients problem may be when they come into a hospital setting. Classes in human resources, management and accounting are also important to this particular career field because of the wide array of duties required by a health care management professional. Another crucial element to a degree in health care management is taking a class in law and ethics. Because of the fact that the average doctor is sued every five years, it is imperative that health care management professionals know the law and are well versed in ethics.

Health care management is a popular major because of all the career possibilities available to graduates. Everywhere you go there are hospitals and doctors offices in need of health care administrators. Upon graduation of a health care management degree online, individuals are able to work at hospitals, private physician practices, home health agencies, ambulatory care centers, and various other agencies and organizations that offer health care services. Whatever the health care service, professionals are needed to operate the service and make sure things run smoothly. Wherever there are doctors, administrators are sure to be there behind the scenes.

Health Care Resources - Some Types Of Health Care Degrees Online Better Than Others

The explosion in the popularity of online degrees
is making news these days, with health care degrees online
near the top of the list of popular courses. It's important to keep in mind, however, that not every kind of health care degree is appropriate for online study while others are particularly well suited to this type of program.

A bachelor's degree in
nursing would be difficult, if not impossible, to pursue at an online university
simply because there are so many hands-on courses that are required to become proficient. Programs in health care management, health care reimbursement and health information systems can all be studied online with excellent results. Most of these health care degrees online focus more on the management, procurement or organizational aspects of health care services rather than direct patient contact. They offer the ideal combination of a satisfying health care and business-oriented career.

The Proper Coursework for Getting a Health Care Degree Online

Courses that are typically part of the curriculum for health care degrees online will include some introductory biology courses such as anatomy (which anyone dealing in any aspect of healthcare services must understand) and a wide range of management and business courses that are geared to the health industry. Some courses you should look for if you are considering pursuing your health care degree online include:

Accounting
Physical anatomy
Health care legal issues
Health care management
Financial management and/or Clinical management
Human Resources management
Health care administrative practices

Online Degrees Will be Increasingly Popular

Some people mistakenly think that a health care services degree of any type is somewhat limiting. This couldn't be further from the truth, as every type of health care provider in the United States requires a variety of management personnel, and many other industries outside of healthcare itself hire them as well. One example is a health administration or health services management degree; individuals with this type of degree can be encouraged by these statistics, which illustrate the diversity of opportunities available:

30 percent are employed by hospitals or large clinics
16 percent are employed by private facilities, small clinics or doctors' offices
20 percent are staff at home health care, ambulatory and nursing facilities
The remainder work for insurance companies and the government in some capacity

In the next three decades the need for increasing expertise in managing the day-to-day operations and budgeting of health care services will become crucial as the population ages and increases. More and more people who are currently working in some capacity in health care services now will move up to management level positions by pursuing an advanced health care degree online, combining education and experience.

With such a vital need and online colleges and universities tailoring coursework to meet the need, it seems likely that the best way for anyone who would like to move from a receptionist or medical secretary to a management level position is to keep working and pursue a specialized health care degree online.

Health Care Resources - Paying for Health Care-health

The cost of health care in the United States is expensive and is escalating. A majority of Americans cannot afford the cost of medicines, physicians' fees, or hospitalization without some form of health insurance. Health insurance is a contract between an insurance company and an individual or group for the payment of medical care costs. After the individual or group pays a premium to an insurance company, the insurance company pays for part or all of the medical costs depending on the type of insurance and benefits provided. The type of insurance policy purchased greatly influences where you go for health care, who provides the health care, and what medical procedures can be performed. The three basic health insurance plans include a private, fee-for-service plan; a prepaid group plan; and a government-financed public plan.

Private Fee-For-Service Insurance Plan

Until recently, private, fee-for-service insurance was the principal form of health insurance coverage. In this plan an individual pays a monthly premium, usually through an employer, which ensures health care on a fee-far-service basis. On incurring medical costs, the patient files a claim to have a portion of these costs paid by the insurance company. There is usually a deductible, an amount paid by the patient before being eligible for benefits from the insurance company. For example, if your expenses are $1000, you may have to pay $200 before the insurance company will pay the other $800. Usually the lower the deductible, the higher the premiums will be. After the deductible is met the insurance provider pays a percentage of the remaining balance.

Typically there are fixed indemnity benefits, specified amounts that are paid for particular procedures. If your policy pays $500 for a tonsilectomy and the actual cost was $1000, you owe the health care provider $500. There are often exclusions, certain services that are not covered by the policy. Common examples include elective surgery, dental care, vision care, and coverage for preexisting illnesses and injuries. Some insurance plans provide options for adding dental and vision care. Other common options include life insurance, which pays a death benefit, and disability insurance, which pays for income lost because of the inability to work as a result of an illness or injury. The more options added to the insurance plan, the more expensive the insurance will be.

One strategy insurance companies are using to lower insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs to the consumer is the formation of preferred providers organization (PPO). A PPO is a group of private practitioners who sell their services at reduced rates to insurance companies. When a patient chooses a provider that is in that company's PPO, the insurance company pays a higher percentage of the fee. When a non-PPO provider is used, a much lower portion of the fee is paid.

A major advantage of a fee-for-service plan is that the patient has options in selecting health-care providers. Several disadvantages are that patients may not routinely receive comprehensive, preventive health care; health-care costs to the patient may be high if unexpected illnesses or injuries occur; and it may place heavy demands on time in keeping track of medical records, invoices, and insurance reimbursement forms.

Prepaid Group Insurance

In prepaid group insurance, health care is provided by a group of physicians organized into a health maintenance organization (HMO). HMOs are managed health-care plans that provide a full range of medical services for a prepaid amount of money. For a fixed monthly fee, usually paid through pay roll deductions by an employer, and often a small deductible, enrollees receive care from physicians, specialists, allied health professionals, and educators who are hired or contractually retained by the HMO. HMOs provide an advantage in that they provide comprehensive care including preventive care at a lower cost than private insurance over a long period of coverage. One drawback is that patients are limited in their choice of providers to those who belong to an HMO.

Government Insurance

In a government insurance plan the government at the federal, state, or local level pays for the health-care costs of elgible participants. Two prominent examples of this plan are Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare is financed by social security taxes and is designed to provide health care for individuals 65 years of age and older, the blind, the severely disabled, and those requiring certain treatments such as kidney dialysis. Medicaid is subsidized by federal and state taxes. It provides limited health care, generally for individuals who are eligible for benefits and assistance from two programs: Aid to Families with Dependent Children and Supplementary Security Income.

Health Care Resources - One-eyed National Health Care

National health care might be a disaster, due to the cost and the complexity. A government-controlled system also creates agonizing moral dilemmas (read about the eye treatment ruling covered further down). Still, despite my opposition to it, I can see it's a real possibility, and soon. Keeping that in mind, here is what we can do to solve some of the inherent problems and make the system work better.

What's Your QUALYs Score?

Who gets what health care? That would be a tricky decision for any of us, but some might argue that the bureaucrats in the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) are pretty good at it. They are evaluate and approve treatments for the National Health Services administration in Britain (their national health care bureaucracy). After all, the life expectancy in Britain is about the same as in the United States, and the government spends less on health care while covering ALL citizens.

Making such decisions, of course, does lead to some interesting problems. One example: In 2002 NICE recommended that a certain treatment for macular degeneration be used only in one eye - the one less affected by the disease. What about the other eye? It is presumably allowed to go blind. They arrived at this decision by using "QUALYs," or Quality-Adjusted Life Years.

How does this methodology for measuring the value of treatments work? Let's look at a couple examples. A surgery that gives you an average of ten years of life is better than one that gives you five, and so scores higher on the QUALYs scale. Years added to life matter, but so does quality of those years. Suppose you could be saved by a treatment but be in a coma for six years, while another person could be saved and healthy for six years by some other treatment. If funds are limited (aren't they always?), the latter would be approved.

Now let's look again at the case of the eye treatment. The score for QUALYs is high for the first eye, since seeing presumably greatly increases the quality of life over blindness. But seeing with the second eye doesn't boost the quality of life nearly as much, right?

We don't need to get into the complexities of the system to understand the logic. Life matters, but quality of life also matters, an idea most of us can agree to. But it leads to some uncomfortable conclusions, doesn't it?. For example a person with a debilitating disease or handicap presumably scores lower in QUALYs when considered for a life-prolonging heart operation. We might pass her over in favor of a healthier person who would benefit more according to the QUALYs score.

The real truth, normally ignored, is that there a financial limit to any national health care plan. As a result, we have to make decisions that can certainly be uncomfortable, and sometimes downright disturbing. What if a million dollars could prevent ten thousand people from getting a deadly disease, or that same million could be used to treat and possibly cure twenty people who already have the disease. Should we allow the twenty to die in order to prevent the deaths of ten thousand?

Of course, it's easy to say we should cure the twenty AND run the prevention program. This may even be possible, and we certainly could pay for both eyes to be treated in the case of macular degeneration. On the other hand, we really can't do everything. Honesty compels us to admit that perhaps going blind in one eye isn't nearly so tragic as losing sight in both, and if treating just one eye for one patient saves enough money to treat another patient's heart problem with a new procedure that saves his life, maybe we need to make that kind of decision.

Whatever utopian theorizing we do, tough choices will have to be made at some point if we decide on national health care. We'll need to put a value on life, or on various qualities of life at least. Yes, we may even have to put a value on one eye versus two, or on eyesight versus saved limbs that might be amputated otherwise. In a market system medical providers compete to provide better treatments for your diabetes, but this will be, in part, a system where your diabetes competes with somebody's migraine headaches or broken nose.

National Health Care - Some Suggestions

If we allow a market system of health care to exist alongside a government system, we could at least pay to have the other eye fixed. The rich will obviously get better care, but I don't think we are such a petty envious people that we would vote against such a dual-system just because of this. The healthiness of the wealthy doesn't hurt the rest of us. Also, we all would at least have the hope of raising money for whatever additional health care we desire. So let the market still exists.

There will also be the problem of demand. Free means higher demand, of course. At the moment I have a few teeth that I might have a dentist look at this week if the examination and treatment was free, but since it isn't I'll wait a bit. People often delay treatment because of the expense, but they also look for and find cheaper alternatives. That would change if we had free national health care.

There will be a big increase in demand. Naturally, cuts that might be bandaged will be more often be stitched if the service is without cost. A headache or sore throat that would normally be endured might mean a trip to the free hospital or clinic. Sadly, this would use government health care money that might otherwise pay for research or treatment for life-threatening illnesses, meaning more tough decisions.

How do we alleviate this problem of excessive demand? Design a system that isn't free. After all, the problem isn't that we have to pay for health care, since we find a way to pay for groceries, clothing and cable television without government handouts. The problem is the high price and unpredictability of health care expenses. An occasional surprise is one thing if it's a few hundred dollars, but a few weeks in a hospital can eat up a lifetime of savings.

Address THIS issue, instead of encouraging people's unwillingness to budget for unexpected, but affordable surprises? How? One way is to have national health insurance for all, but with a $500 annual deductible. When a person can't afford this (it amounts to $42 per month) it usually suggests a budgeting problem, not a problem of over-priced care.

Have each person pay 20% of all costs beyond that deductible as well, up to $1,000 ($5,000 in costs). This would keep people from running to the doctor or hospital for every little thing. This also encourages them to look for cheaper effective treatments, so the system doesn't destroy the usual incentive (money) for this creative process of health care improvement.

Prescription drugs shouldn't be covered until the cost goes beyond that $500 annual deductible, and even then the patient should pay his or her 20%. People (even poor people in this country) find a way to pay for bigger expenses in life, and this would keep the system from being abused. What if some people really are too poor to afford even this? Address that problem through general welfare programs, rather than paying for prescriptions for tens of millions who can easily afford them.

I am not thrilled with the idea of a national health care system. On the other hand, if it is going to happen in any case, we at least make it sustainable and leave open more options for all of us. That's what the system outlined above would hopefully accomplish.