Catastrophic Health Insurance

What is a catastrophic medical insurance plan?

Catastrophic health insurance plan is a separate plan other than the four metal health insurance plans viz. Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, etc. 
Catastrophic health insurance aka High deductible health insurance plan is a special case that qualify for under 30 years or exemption due to special hardship conditions, (‘hardship exemption’). In case of high deductible healthcare coverage, you can pay lower premiums and avail major hospitalization facilities.

Catastrophic health insurance plans are pre-designed with intention to provide medical emergency safety protection to protect you from medical costs that cannot be predicted earlier. These costs can be- stay in a hospital for an extended period, or an emergency medical illness.

Why buy catastrophic coverage plan?

Catastrophic insurance are individual and family health insurance plans which stresses on serious illness and hospitalization coverage. These are not regular extensions of health insurance plans like indemnity and HMO, etc. The best thing about these plans are the specialized package they come in to cover hospital expenses. Such plans come with much less monthly expenses when compared to other health insurance plans. That means you will have to pay much less monthly premiums.

** Catastrophic plan benefits in states without Medicaid exemption
Two conditions exist- If you happen to live outside the 38 states that hasn’t extended its Medicaid facilities. Also, if you have your earning between 100 to 138% of the FPL- you can sought exemption from your catastrophic coverage.

**Catastrophic insurance plan and HSA
In case you have enrolled into a high deductible plan, and you add HSA (Health savings Account), your catastrophic plan can carry its premium amounts to the HSA even if you discontinue the plan at some time.

How does catastrophic health insurance plan work?

For instance, your first $2,000 to $5,000 that you pay are associated to your deductibles, coinsurance, copays, out-of-pocket costs. If you are relatively young or healthy and you expect to receive an employer-based plan for the next 6 to 12 months, these catastrophic medical coverage plans are quite affordable for you. The advice though is your preventative services may or may not be covered under your basic plan you purchased. You may need to do some extensive research about it. To make sure you get the best catastrophic health insurance plan for yourself, better check what your plan does and does not offer and then go ahead and buy the right plan for you.
In short catastrophic health insurance plans:

• Limit your medical expenditure in case of emergency.
• Have a very high deductible
• May offer very very low monthly premiums
• Higher out-of-pocket costs for emergency services
• May not always provide coverage for preventative care
• Catastrophic plan may work out for you if you do not have pre-existing condition
• They don’t usually cover prescription drugs, lab tests and other robust healthcare services

Catastrophic coverage has two categories:

Comprehensive health insurance- similar to the comprehensive plan you will buy usually. Through this plan you get to visit pharmacy, visits and treatments.
Supplemental health insurance- Using this plan, you will get add-ons to the current policy you have.