Insurance is a major investment. But insurance costs are growing at a record pace and the trend isn’t slowing down. In fact, health care expenses are expected to be the fastest-growing source of expenses in the US by 2020, which puts a lot of pressure on families to cover a lot of the costs.
While some of the biggest insurers in the country like UnitedHealth Group and Humana have been making headlines lately for their outrageous prices, others are making headlines for being far more responsible with their spending.
We are going to discuss 7 insurance trends that are currently in the mainstream. These include group health insurance, individual health savings accounts, online wellness programs, and even behavioral health care.
All of these concepts are being integrated into health care services and programs, and they are very important. They are all designed to encourage us to do our best to live a healthy lifestyle.
1. Group Health Insurance
This is a way for large groups of people to purchase healthcare benefits in bulk. Most of the plans today include dental care, vision care, and prescription drugs.
They also usually cover preventative care as well. If you belong to a business, group health insurance is a good option for you.
The reason is that you are likely to pay less because you will be buying your insurance collectively. You will also get a better deal if you are in a big group with a lot of members.
2. Individual health savings accounts
Individual health savings accounts are similar to a 401k plan for health insurance. However, you don’t have to pay taxes on the money in an HSA. You can use money that you save in an HSA to pay for deductibles, co-pays, or premiums for coverage.
You can even use the money to pay for your deductible or co-pays. For example, if your total medical bills are $5,000, you can put $2,000 of your own money in your account.
You will then only have to spend $3,000, leaving $1,000 to be paid later by the insurance company.
Once you use the money that is in the HSA for paying the deductible or co-pay, you can no longer use it. You must wait until you have paid back $1,000.
3. Online wellness programs
Online wellness programs are the newest trend in healthcare. They were first introduced in 1999 and 2000. Online wellness programs encourage participants to engage in a personal fitness and nutrition program.
These programs can also track participants’ progress and help them achieve their goals. They can also give information about healthy living.
Online wellness programs are very popular among busy individuals and people who work at home. There are several websites that offer online wellness programs. The most popular one is WebMD.
4. Behavioral health care
Behavioral health care is something that most people don’t realize. However, there are lots of people who need behavioral health care, especially during stressful times.
Behavioral health care includes counseling, psychotherapy, therapy, and other treatments that can be provided by doctors and nurses.
Sometimes, these therapies are combined with drug treatments. These therapies can help individuals to overcome problems that may cause stress or depression.
5. Self-insurance
There is an insurance trend that is going mainstream and is really catching on in the market. This insurance trend is self-insurance.
Self-insurance has been around for some time now, but only recently has it been more accepted and adopted into the market. A self-insurer is a person who takes responsibility for his or her own insurance coverage.
He or she owns and controls the risk of insuring him or herself. Self-insurance can be done in two different ways. One way is to take on all of the responsibilities and the risks that come with having a policy.
The other way is to use an independent insurance agency or broker to provide coverage. In the first case, the person who is insuring him or herself is doing the underwriting and selling.
In the second case, the agent is taking care of everything except underwriting and selling. These are both very effective methods to insure yourself.
6. Dental insurance
Dental insurance has been a trend for years now. Millions of people get dental insurance nowadays. Many people use their dental insurance to pay for their dental care. This is a great thing.
We should take advantage of insurance for our own good. We need to be prepared for the unexpected. Having insurance protects us from many problems in life. Insurance can even pay for your medical bills if you need them.
We should use this service because it is affordable and it provides us with financial security. It also protects us from the financial burden of unexpected health issues.
7. Vision insurance
One type of insurance trend that is going mainstream is vision insurance. If you have been using your vision as a tool to complete some task or activity, you will find it beneficial to consider getting vision insurance.
This is because the cost of eyeglasses and contact lenses is very expensive. The price of eyeglasses and contact lenses has increased in recent years. Some people do not even wear glasses or contacts at all because they cannot afford it.
The cost of eyeglasses and contact lenses can be quite high, but this is because people who wear them end up having to buy them over and over again. Many of them need to go to the doctor regularly to check their eyes.
Vision insurance protects against a loss in income because of a personal injury that causes you to lose your vision.
The insurance company can pay for the cost of prescription eyeglasses or contact lenses, and other costs related to your vision problems. You can also recover a portion of the money you lost during your period of temporary or permanent blindness.
If you have an accident and you lose your vision, you may lose a lot of money. The average amount of compensation in the United States for temporary or permanent blindness is $1 million.
Conclusion
The average person is willing to spend $4.35 in savings to avoid a single $1,000 medical bill in the United States. There is still a large group of people who do not have any insurance coverage at all.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 45% of Americans have no health insurance and 23% do not have any insurance that meets the basic standards set by the Affordable Care Act.
With so many uninsured individuals and high demand for healthcare services, the industry is beginning to see changes. Here are seven insurance trends that are going mainstream.
