Handling the situation when you don’t have insurance Or service is not covered by Insurance policy.

Insurance is an integral part of American system. Insurance is often perceived as an unnecessary cost by people who are immigrants or temporarily working in America,. It is important for them to understand that in American systems insurance is not a luxury but a need. Also for most people, since health insurance is covered and provided by their employer, they don’t really give any importance and take it for granted.

First and foremost thing is, to must buy a good medical insurance policy for your visiting parents/ relatives , since the health care cost is very high in America , neglecting or not taking insurance for the visitor can be a big risk can lead to a huge financial burden on you and your guest visitor.

We often get calls from people who want to buy insurance only when the medical situation occurred or when their visiting parents/relatives are in need of medical attention. Remember you must have insurance before problem occurred, NO insurance company will provide you policy if the problem already occurred. Insurance is to cover unseen risk and not for known or existing problems.

So if you are reading this article and do not have an insurance, must consider buying a good insurance policy.

What if you are in this type of situation? Don’t have insurance and need medical attention? OR You do have an insurance but it does not cover certain type of services. Like Pre-existing conditions etc.

Here are some tips which can be helpful.

1. If you are in need of a medical service and situation is not an emergency situation, do some research and find a hospital or facility which is for charity or a non-profit organization. This type of service provider may have reasonable low charges for service they provide.
2. If it is a life threatening medical situation, call 911 Or visit nearest medical center.

Billing: - While most hospital or service providers may not insist you to pay before they give you treatment, some of them may require you to pay first. In some cases the service provider may even ask you to sign a waiver declaration, stating that you will be responsible to make the payments.

Dealing with the cost and billing?
Unfortunately, hospital or doctors do not publish their rates, and their bill always comes as a surprise. Be prepared, if you have taken any medical services you are going to receive a bill sooner or later. In majority of cases the bill amount is nerve braking; just a doctor visit can be in thousand of dollars.

Don’t run from the situation, you have taken the services so you as a good citizen must ready to pay for the services. You should definitely do some efforts to minimize the bill and find all possible ways to negotiate to waive or reduce the charges. Communication is the key ..

1. 1. Talk to the billing dept.: Find out if they have any waiver policy. Some hospitals have a waiver program, if the patient qualifies for their criteria mostly if not in good financial situation. You may have to provide proof of your income etc.
2. Request for discount: Accounts dept may agree to give some discount. I have seen and aware many cases where hospital has offered up any where from 25% to 70% discount.
3. Payment terms: Ask if the payment can be made in easy and affordable installments program, like paying X dollar per month for next 2 years etc.

Aforementioned are not be guaranteed it totally depends on the service provider’s policy.

I hope this article help our users.

Published: Jan 31st, 2008.
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