Private health insurance has existed long enough alongside the public health system, but it was not in demand till the end of World War II. Its popularity has grown due to increasing costs of health care. In time when medical bills were too expensive for patients to pay, the idea of prepaid medical care was widely supported by the public. Currently, private health insurance dominates on the market and does not seem to lose ground.
Though there was a great number of attempts to make health insurance reform and to provide senior people safety net, a greater part of Americans still prefer to get affordable medical care and cheap quotes from private companies.
As you see, there are two types of health insurance in the U.S.: public and private. What is the difference between them and benefits? Public health insurers offer two kinds of insurance plans determined to certain types of customers. They are Medicare and Medicare Advantage.
Medicare is a public program supported by the United States government which provide health insurance coverage to a certain category of people. It was founded in 1965. This program deals with aged people who are 65 and above, or people with disabilities.
Medicare Advantage is a part of a Medicare plan, which was designed in 1997. The main advantage is that it includes the prescription drug coverage. It also combines the public and private sector. Does it sound strange? The thing is the customer may choose one of Medicare Advantage plans where private health care plans are included either.
PHI plans. Lastly, there are private health insurance plans or PHI plans. As compare to the previous plans PHI offer a contract between a client (also known as beneficiary) and a company. Before signing a contract with the firm a customer has to undergo thorough medical examination. The results of medical examination will determine the type of a plan to be offered to a customer.
The best is to understand how it works, let’s make an example. Suppose a customer was diagnosed an antecedent of cancer. In this case even if the risk of suffering cancer again is very high, a person will not be offered to have a cancer policy, as far as providers make money on such kinds of contracts.
