14/06/2023
HEALTH CARD (HMO) or
LIFE & HEALTH INSURANCE?
There seems to be a lot of confusion when people talk about "health insurance."
Technically, may dalawa kasing types of health assistance.
1. Health Card from a Health Maintenance Organization a.k.a. HMO (e.g. Maxicare, Medicard, Intellicare, etc.)
2. Life Insurance with Critical Illness Benefits from a Life Insurance Company.
People often ask kung alin ba sa dalawa dapat 'yung meron tayo?
These are 2 different kinds of insurances that serve 2 different purposes.
โจ HEALTH CARD (HMO)
๐ Pag may health card ka from HMO, babayaran nila directly sa hospital lahat ng gagastusin hanggang sa maximum limit ng plan niyo.
๐ Kasama dito ang check-ups, lab tests, doctors' fees, etc. Usually kaakibat nito ang PhilHealth.
๐ Ang HMO company na ang nagbabayad directly sa ospital ng bills, so wala ka nang ilalabas na pera. Pero usually maliit lang ito at hindi sapat ma-cover lahat ng gastos if ever magkaroon ng critical illness. Limited amount lang ang covered hanggang diagnosis lang.
๐ Hanggang 60 or 65 yrs old lang din usually ang coverage nito, at magagamit mo ang benefits sa accredited hospitals lang nila.
๐ The benefit is you don't have to worry about the amount of medical expenses na kailangan bayaran on the spot. Di mo kailangan maglabas ng cash pag na-emergency ka, o bigla kang naospital, o kapag magpapacheck up ka.
โจ LIFE INSURANCE WITH HEALTH BENEFITS
๐ Ang life insurance naman na may critical illness benefits, sa iyo ibibigay directly 'yung pera regardless kung magkano ang magastos mo sa pagpapagamot.
๐ Halimbawa, kung madiagnose ka ng sakit like cancer, heart attack, stroke, etc - ikaw mismo ang makakakuha ng pera. Sayo directly mapupunta yung cash, lump sum.
๐ Pwede niyo siya gamitin pangdagdag for treatments, or to replace the income na mawawala sayo.
๐ Coverage is usually until age 75 or 100, and the amount can range from Php 500,000.00 to Php 15,000,000.00.. You'll get this in cash if you get diagnosed with a critical illness.
๐ The benefit is, it's all up to you kung paano at saan siya gagamitin, basta ibibigay na lang sayo yung cash. Pwede mo 'to magamit kung gusto mo rin magpagamot sa ibang bansa, o para mag-avail ng treatments for critical illness na hindi na covered ng health card mo.
โจ WHICH ONE TO GET?
๐ฉ I believe that it's important to have BOTH. Yes, BOTH.
In the end kasi, they complement each other. Kung ano yung kulang sa isa, napupunan ng isa.
For health cards, usually kasama na 'to sa benefits from your company. So kung meron ka nang ganito from your employer - congrats! You don't need to pay for it out of pocket anymore. Double check mo na lang kung sapat ba yung benefits na offered.
For health insurance, very rare that employers offer this as a benefit. So it's highly likely that you have to purchase one for yourself.
โจ HOW TO AVAIL?
If walang health card yung employer mo or if you're a freelancer, you can get a health card directly from the companies themselves, just visit their websites. Or contact me! ๐ and we can design one that fits your budget and needs.
For health insurance (life insurance with health benefits), you can contact me ๐ or you can comment below so we can design one that fits your budget and needs ๐
No one can really predict when illnesses or emergencies come (nor can we stop them). So I decided to have both -
โ
health card
โ
life and health insurance.
Paying for healthcare may be expensive, but itโs something that's very useful to have (even though I hope that we would never need to use it). But still reality is most people get sick before they die. And it's more expensive to get sick than to die. Better be prepared!
Stay healthy everyone ๐
CTTO
