The whole point of health insurance is protection from financial ruin in case of catastrophic, costly health problems. But a recent survey of people facing such problems shows that it often fails in that basic function. The survey, of some of the country's most seriously ill people, found that even with health insurance, more than a third of the respondents had spent all or most of their savings while sick. They are often faced with deductibles and co-payments; treatments their insurance won't cover; and financial challenges — like lost work — that health insurance alone can't address. The New York Times, the Commonwealth Fund and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health used the survey to examine the sliver of the U.S. population that uses the health care system the most. To be included in the results, a respondent had to have been hospitalized twice in the last two years and to have seen at least three doctors. In some cases, when patients had died or were too ill to … [Read more...] about For the seriously ill, insurance isn’t always enough
What homeowners insurance covers rottweilers
What should be covered by government vs. private insurance?
How are public and private insurance used in the real-world? The answer to this question varies across countries, however, there are generally 3 ways in which public and private health insurance systems interact. First, private insurance may substitute for public insurance. That is, people are either covered privately or publicly. This is the case in Australia, Ireland, Spain and used to be the case in the Netherlands before 2006…Second, private insurance is bought in addition to public insurance to get faster access (i.e. shorter waiting lists), have a broader choice of providers and treatments for a given condition. Examples include Austria, Denmark and Finland…Third, private insurance is bought to cover treatment for conditions that are not covered by public insurance. One can think of dental care, physiotherapy and prescription glasses that are not covered by the public insurance system. But also, the public system may not fully cover the costs of a … [Read more...] about What should be covered by government vs. private insurance?
California fires may make homeowners insurance harder to get
Sarah Skidmore Sell, Ap Personal Finance Writer Updated 7:06 am PDT, Monday, August 13, 2018 window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails-4', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails 4', target_type: 'mix' }); _taboola.push({flush: true}); Photo: Ringo H.W. Chiu, AP Image 1of/4 CaptionClose Image 1 of 4 FILE- In this Aug. 9, 2018, file photo a wildfire burns near homes in the Cleveland National Forest in Lake Elsinore, Calif. California homeowners may find themselves facing insurance issues even if they were not directly hit by this year’s blazes. The California Department of Insurance warned in January that the increasing number and severity of wildfires in the state were making it more difficult for homeowners to find and hold on to insurance. And now they say that recent massive fires may … [Read more...] about California fires may make homeowners insurance harder to get
Health insurance covers nearly 87 percent of population
Health insurance covers nearly 87 percent of population - Illustrative image (Source: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – More than 81.5 million Vietnamese people, or nearly 87 percent of the population, were covered by health insurance by the end of June, according to the Vietnam Social Security (VSS). Twenty-three out of 63 provinces and cities reported the coverage rate of over 90 percent. All the provinces and cities fulfilled or surpassed the targets assigned by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. In the first half of this year, health insurance cards were used 84.9 million times in health check-ups and treatment, up 9.4 percent against the same period last year. The health insurance fund disbursed over 47.3 trillion VND (2.1 billion USD), accounting for 52 percent of estimates assigned by the Government, excluding spending for people managed by the social insurance agencies of the Ministries of Public Security and National Defence. Sixty out of 63 cities and provinces had their expenses … [Read more...] about Health insurance covers nearly 87 percent of population
Does Insurance Cover Volcanos, Worried Hawaii Homeowners Wonder
Patricia Deter moved from Oregon to Hawaii to be closer to her two daughters, but the Kilauea volcano burned down her home only a month after she bought it. Now Deter and her family, along others who have recently lost homes to the lava-spewing mountain, are on an urgent quest for answers about insurance, desperate to learn whether their coverage will offer any help after molten rock wiped out most of what they owned. The eruption has destroyed about two dozen homes in the Leilani Estates subdivision on the Big Island. On Monday, another fissure spewing lava and toxic gas opened up, and a crack in the earth that emerged a day earlier was sending molten rock crawling toward the ocean, officials said. Nearly 20 fissures have opened since the Kilauea volcano started erupting 12 days ago, and officials warn it may soon blow its top with a massive steam eruption that would shoot boulders and ash miles into the sky. Because the community sits in a zone deemed by the U.S. Geological Survey to … [Read more...] about Does Insurance Cover Volcanos, Worried Hawaii Homeowners Wonder