Which of the following is a reason someone should get health insurance?

Which of the following is a reason someone should get health insurance?

A. People with health insurance can get faster access to medical care at emergency rooms.

B. Health insurance allows all medical procedures to be covered for free.

C. Health insurance may protect you financially from most expenses connected to medical emergencies.

D. Most health insurance policies also cover non medical procedures.

Answer: C. Health insurance may protect you financially from most expenses connected to medical emergencies.

It can be identified as a financial backup or a means of risk management that is used to cushion people against the extreme costs of health care in general and especially during emergencies. Out of all the possibilities presented as the reasons one should have health insurance this is by far the most valid and convincing argument.

Medical complications are rampant and may arise at any time without prior notice and this is usually accompanied by lots of costs. For instance, a minor injury say a broken arm will be billed in the thousands of dollars while conditions such as heart attacks or cancer may need treatment that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. At the same time, these costs entail great risks of accumulating significant amounts of debt or sustaining personal bankruptcy among people and families in the absence of insurance.

Such expenses are usually provided for by health insurance policies, in which the policyholder contributes a minimal amount of the overall cost through out-of-pocket expenses, which include deductibles, co-payments, and co-insurance. For instance, should a patient with health insurance be hospitalised and undergo an emergency surgery that costs $100, 000, he/ she will only pay an amount equivalent to $5, 000 (assuming this is the mandatory deductible) plus 20% of the balance of $95, 000.

However, health insurance offers a lot of cash at the time of receiving medical treatments, concluding that it is not completely free for all medical treatments (against option B) and non-medical treatments (against option D). Moreover, being insured does not always result in quicker treatment in an emergency (opposite to option A), because most hospitals in many countries cannot deny a patient services in an emergency.