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Catastrophic health insurance does not pay for routine visits to the doctor, prescription drugs etc. The plans available in catastrophic health insurance cover your hospital stay, intensive care unit, X-ray, surgery, lab tests etc. This is ideally suited for those who do not want to pay for plans that they do not require. These plans only cover major hospitals and expenses in the hospital that above a certain deductible. So once your expenses for any medical treatment cross the deductible in the plan, the plan pays for the hospital bill.
These plans have high deductible amounts which are often more than $500. They also cap your benefits at around 1 million or 3 million dollars. Beyond this the plan will not cover for your medical insurance.
A comprehensive catastrophic plan offers services similar to a traditional healthcare plans. The deductible is still high and the premiums are still small. The premiums are higher than different kind of catastrophic health insurance called supplement catastrophic plan. They provide supplementary services to normal healthcare plans. Some of the benefits of supplementary plan are ambulance rides, nursing care and psychiatric care etc.
This kind of health insurance plan provides a lot of benefits for older people who might be prone to heart attacks or any other ailment that requires a surgery. These can be retirees who are not yet eligible for medicare. Other groups of people who can benefit from this kind of plan are the self employed who do not have access to a group plan, healthy adults, adults with low income who need a cushion for their sudden medical needs. This plan keeps your monthly premium payments down. The basic idea is that you take on more out-of-pocket expenses to keep your premiums down.
High deductible plans are available as individual plans or as part of a group through your employer. One of the many companies, which is insureme, which is in the US provides agents with whom you can discuss your needs and find an appropriate quote for catastrophic health insurance. This particular plan leaves the choice in your hands when you have to choose the deductible that you would be paying. Hence you would need to discuss extensively with companies or agents to choose the appropriate plan.
This article was contributed by Prerna Mordani.
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