What is Supplemental Health Insurance?
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Supplemental health insurance is a type of insurance policy designed to cover the gaps that your regular health insurance may have due to deductibles and co-payments. Supplemental health insurance covers additional expenses that your primary insurance doesn’t cover, such as lost income and living expenses. Those who should consider supplemental health insurance are the self employed, families with children, those financially unprepared to handle large medical bills or time off from work due to illness or injury, and those on Medicare.
Some of the benefits of a supplemental health insurance policy include cash benefits, lower cost due to lower benefit amounts, the ability to offset lost income unlike a traditional health insurance policy, and often payment for pre-existing conditions. The most common type of supplemental policy is intended for those covered by Medicare, which doesn’t cover long term health care, at home care, nursing homes, or prescription drugs. Many seniors opt to carry a Medicare supplement in addition to long term care insurance, which protects their financial security. Unfortunately, these two supplemental insurance policies can run up to 4,000 USD annually.
For many people, supplemental health insurance conjures up images of an obnoxious duck quacking “AFLAC!,” but there are many other insurance companies offering a veritable smorgasbord of supplemental health insurance policies. While a plan like AFLAC provides a cash benefit to those out of work due to illness or injury, other plans provide cash benefits for a number of specific reasons.
In addition to hospital indemnity plans which provide fixed cash benefits for covered services, including hospital stays for emergencies and outpatient services, there are basic supplemental medical plans that provide fixed benefits for covered preventative medical care. For those worried about cancer, there are supplemental cancer insurance plans which give direct cash to policy holders for cancer treatments and related expenses. For situations involving a critical condition or illness, there are policies which give lump sum benefits to help pay out of pocket expenses for heart attacks, strokes, heart surgeries, cancer, and other illnesses.
Statistics show that becoming unexpectedly disabled can be financially devastating for any family. Disability income protection helps guard against sudden lost income by providing a monthly benefit to help pay the bills. Long term care insurance helps policy holders deal with the high cost of long term care, including assisted living facilities, medical home care, adult day care, and so on. With the cost of regular health care spiraling ever higher for everyone, especially the self-employed, supplemental health insurance is becoming a must have for anyone looking to stay physically and financially healthy.
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I have good insurance via cigna/metlife, however I have very serious health issues that are costing me about 1000 dollars per month in co-pays for meds and doctors' appointments. Is there anything out there that can assist with this?
The health issues include: diabetes (insulin, and meds); arthritis (surgeries, meds, physical therapy); neuropathy (due to the diabetes, meds, specialists, etc.); sleep apnaea (cpap, meds, specialist); etc.
- anon38733
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Dear anon2891, your state should be able to offer you what is called Pcap, which is specified coverage for women who are pregnant. If not then check with your local medicaid office, since family planning is considered separate from normal medicaid. You could have coverage for your care until about 3 months after birth. Hope it helps. - anon20512
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As an AFLAC policyholder, stockholder and past agent, I can tell you with confidence that AFLAC is MUCH more than just "the Duck" and they provide every policy that your author then goes on to explain that "other" companies provide.AFLAC's commercials do focus on the fact that if someone is out of work due to an illness or injury they will get paid because in a short time slot, like a commercial, it's the easiest message to get across without going into full detail. AFLAC was started in 1955 and in 1957 they pioneered and introduced the very first cancer plan. In the 1970's they pioneered and introduced the first intensive care plan. Since that time they have gone on to introduce Medicare supplements, hospital indemnity, accident, short-term disability, dental, vision, life and more. AFLAC's plans are guaranteed-renewable and a policyholder will NOT be dropped for having used their policy, nor will their rates be raised simply for having to cash in on their policy. One of the most significant details of any supplemental insurance is that the benefits are paid directly to the policyholder to be used in the manner they need to use it most. This means that the benefits are NOT paid to the service provider like traditional insurance monies are. AFLAC, along with many of its competitors, strongly encourage people to also carry traditional health insurance as supplemental insurance can't begin to cover the extremely high medical costs of our times, however what supplemental insurance will do is provide cash-in-hand to cover day-to-day living expenses among other things too expansive to cover in this email. Supplemental insurance is NOT just for an exclusive and short list of people. Even those with good insurance coverage and those with financially sound portfolios should check it out. A medical nightmare like Cancer or a devastating accident or rare disease can wipe out savings accounts, college funds and retirement funds in the blink of an eye. Having a supplemental plan in place negates having to use the hard earned nest egg in case of such an emergency. Again, I speak from experience as 7 years ago I was diagnosed with a tumor causing a rare condition known as Cushing's Disease. My husband and I both had good jobs and good insurance, however due to traditional health insurance not covering everything and my having to be out of work, not to mention the high cost of meds before and after, we lost everything. Knowing what I do now about supplemental insurance plans, we would have turned out much better had we had a supplemental policy in place. Although I am most passionate about AFLAC, their company philosophy and products, I do not mean for this to be an ad for AFLAC. There are a number of strong and legit companies who offer supplemental benefits and are worth checking into, such as Allstate, Colonial, and Combined Insurance. I believe that the subject matter is an important one and the author has covered good points, however I feel that readers need very clear details and the utmost accurate information on such a vital topic. Respectfully, M. Reese Baltimore, MD
- anon16268
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Are there any insurance that will pick up after the $2400 dollar gap is met with the supplemental insurance, aligned with the Medicare part d drug plan? - airide
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I'm a student (19) and still on my parents insurance. I'm pregnant; and I'm not covered under my parents insurance. Can I buy supplemental insurance to pay for my medical bills? - anon2891
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Written by
O. Wallace
Last Modified: 28 July 2009
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