When you relocate to Los Angeles, it is time to start thinking about the medical insurance you should have in place. Whether you have it through work or are responsible for providing it yourself, you need to protect yourself and the members of your family. Not only do you need to avoid getting expensive medical bills, but you also need to make sure you do not leave your family left paying expensive medical bills should something happen to you.
Before getting your LA medical insurance coverage in place, there are some things to think about as you make your decisions regarding your policy.
- If you are going to run a business, you should also consider getting California Group Medical Insurance. This will help protect your employees so you have less down time with staff and also have high employee morale.
- If you are working for someone else, find out ahead of time if medical coverage is included. This is especially true if you are relocating to LA for a job. At the very least, a company that asks you to move for your job should be willing to provide medical coverage.
- You can have both individual and family medical insurance in California, or you can have private health insurance. Keep in mind rates are not guaranteed and you will have to pass a screening exam to get the policy. Pre-existing conditions will not be covered. If you already have medical coverage from another state, you may want to try to retain this and change it to California instead of start a new policy.
- LA medical insurance can be very important if you should have a problem such as a car accident. This is especially true if you are only carrying the California state liability minimum for your LA auto insurance coverage. Because liability will not cover your medical expenses in the event of an accident, you need medical coverage to make sure your medical bills are covered in an accident. Even if you have a basic auto insurance policy that does cover your own medical expenses, it may not be enough.
Each year countless numbers of people have to take drastic measures due to their medical expenses. Without LA medical insurance coverage, one of these things could happen to you. Piled up medical bills can result from accidents, surgery, expensive prescriptions or the need for things such as physical therapy.
These bills can cause people to lose their vehicles, go through foreclosure with their homes and even be forced to claim bankruptcy. Avoid dealing with any of these situations by getting your medical insurance coverage in place. Try to get this in place before relocating to LA so you will be protected from the moment you arrive.
Getting Your Coverage
There are many reputable insurance providers which you can deal with for your own LA medical insurance coverage. The bottom line is that it is crucial that you have this kind of protection. You also have options when it comes to the type of medical coverage you get.
The three main types of insurance plans are:
- High Deductible– This is about as basic a plan as you can get but is often the best way for someone to go to at least have medical insurance in place. All of your expenses work towards the deductible. Of course, having a high deductible means your rates are lower for premiums, but the out of pocket expenses for coverage are steeper than with many other types of plans. Each year the plan renews so that if you have not yet met the deductible you will be starting over again at the beginning of the next year. Once the deductible is met for the year though, expenses above and beyond are mostly covered by your insurance carrier. For most people this is basically a policy to have in case of an emergency.
- Copay Insurance – As the name implies, you can use this policy by paying a copay each time. Usually you either have a flat fee for using your insurance each time or a set amount depending on what the service is. For example for the latter type you may pay one amount for a regular doctor visit, another amount for a hospital visit and a set amount for prescriptions.
- Hospital Surgical Plans – This is the most basic in terms of having no coverage other than emergency surgery coverage.
Decide which policy would work best for you, and get your rate quotes for different LA medical insurance plans.
