Supplemental Health Insurance

If you’re like most Americans, your primary health insurance doesn’t cover everything. Whether you make co-pays for prescriptions, pay out-of-pocket for vision and dental expenses, have to come up with the cash for services not covered by Medicare or your insurance plan, it can quickly add up.

Group Insurance Supplemental health insurance is designed to help defray these kinds of expenses that aren’t usually covered by major medical insurance plans. A variety of supplemental health insurance plans are available so that you can customize your healthcare coverage and bridge the gaps between your actual medical bills and the amount your insurance covers.

Why you might need supplemental coverage?

Not everyone needs supplemental insurance. If you’re a healthy individual whose primary health insurance plan covers all or most health-related bills and who already has disability coverage, you may not benefit from buying supplemental insurance.

On the other hand, if your primary insurance requires you to pay high yearly deductibles, make expensive co-pays, or places low caps on the amount it covers for certain services and products, you should consider supplemental health insurance.

Additionally, you may want to look into purchasing supplemental insurance if:

You lack disability coverage, which would pay your bills and lost wages if you were to be injured off the job or became chronically ill. (Many employers have insurance for on-the-job injuries and short-term disability leaves.)
You are at a high risk for developing cancer, heart disease or other serious illnesses that would require expensive medical treatment.
You belong to an HMO or other managed plan that won’t cover out-of-network services or certain procedures, such as experimental cancer treatments.
You don’t have an emergency fund that would cover at least three months of living costs.
You want to protect the savings and assets you have.