Health Insurance for Kids
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Health insurance for kids is the most beneficial investment you could make to protect your child’s life. Keeping your kids healthy at home is important to your child’s development. Active kids are healthy kids, so be sure to keep your children active and avoid letting them watch too much television or play too many video games. By keeping them active you can avoid trips to the doctor because your child is depressed or overweight. Children who play and move more at an early age reap benefits:
- Decreased risk of chronic disease later in life
- Healthy bones, muscles and joints
- Participate more in school activities
- Higher self-esteem
- Maintain a healthy weight
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More children are covered by health insurance than ever before because parents are finding affordable options made available to all income levels. Children that often do not have kid’s health insurance are families that make too much money to qualify for Medicaid yet not enough to afford private health insurance.
Cost
Medicaid is a federally-funded, state-run program that provides medical assistance for individuals and families with limited incomes. It will pay all the health care costs that you cannot afford. There are a few different ways to qualify, and they can be different depending on where you live, but this is the best option for lower income families to obtain kids health insurance.
If your income is too high and you do not qualify for Medicaid, there are other options available to you. You might choose or already have in place an individual plan for your family healthcare. Health insurance for kids is often a choice between a health maintenance organization (HMO’s) or a preferred provider organization (PPO’s). Because children make frequent trips to the doctor, let’s take a look at which plan works best for your needs and level of income.
HMO
HMO’s offer a low monthly premium, but is not very flexible. An HMO entitles you to doctor’s visits, preventive care, and medical treatment. You pay a co-payment for each doctor visit which can range from $5 to $10 for each appointment. You cannot choose a doctor outside of the HMO network. An HMO covers a percentage of prescription drugs, your co-payment will vary depending on the cost of the medication. You will have a primary care provider who will take care of routine medical needs and prescriptions. Your primary care doctor will refer to a specialist if necessary, who also needs to be in the network. Emergency room care is paid for without a referral.
PPO
PPO’s are more flexible and have a slightly higher premium but they can be more flexible. You are allowed to go outside your network without a referral an see any physician you choose. However, the $5 to $10 co-payment provides the incentive to stay in your network. If you go on your own you need to pay in full for all treatments and submit a bill for reimbursement. Most PPO’s will reimburse 80 percent of out-of-network expenses.
So, if you have a family you might want to go with the HMO, and get the lower monthly premium. In the long run you might save money on co-payments. You can always shop around for the right doctor in your network to meet your needs. Whichever kids health insurance you choose, just be sure to have a plan in place to keep your children active and healthy.
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