Individual Medical Insurance - Does it pay to be Individualistic

It sounds as if the person making this suggestion is a perfectionist, and indeed a brutal perfectionist, forcing his beliefs on others. Doesn’t it? But it may need to be emphasized that it doesn’t pay to be individualistic! You have possibly heard or even had that inward desire for individual medical insurance. You certainly have reasons, and valid reasons at that but individual medical insurance may not be as good as many people tend to think. You possibly think for one to make such bold statements, they should be ignorant of what they are talking about. There is therefore need for us to first understand what individual medical insurance is all about. Let us move on…

The Nature of individual medical insurance

Individual medical insurance is simply the medical insurance cover that caters for the medical needs or risks of the individual rather than a group of people say a family or work group. It means in this case, the medical needs or risks of an individual are catered for in isolation, which is to say that they are not incorporated with those of other people.

Individual medical insurance is often tailored to individual health needs and indeed individual means or affordability. Such an insurance coverage may be short term or long term, meaning that it may cater for short range medical needs or long range medical needs or risks. Typically though, it covers both long term and short term medical needs and risks of the individual seeking the insurance. The insurance premium and other related costs may be paid by the individual or for the individual by his or her employer and or, caretaker.

Individual medical insurance is something each one of us would be proud to get. But why did we suggest that it may not be good after all?

The other side of individual medical insurance

Getting individual medical insurance may not necessarily be a good option. In this instance, we are advocating for medical insurance coverage that covers people as a group, for example a family or organized work group, thus family medical insurance or group medical insurance respectively. The reason for this is that is insurance is acquired for two or more people as a group, rather than as individuals, the unit cost (cost per individual) of the medical insurance coverage tends to be lower than in the case where each individual gets medical insurance coverage independently.

This should possibly justify the suggestion that it may not pay to be individualistic. Getting insurance for the entire family or group at once would enhance savings through limiting the amount of money spent on each individual’s medical insurance. Isn’t that good? But that’s not all. Let us go on…

Individual medical insurance does not give effective peace of mind as would a comprehensive medical insurance package that covers the entire family or work group. When you insure against the medical needs of your entire family at once, you lay rest assured that everything is under control. It is perfectly admissible that ill-health to just one family member can reproduce a syndrome of ill-health among all individuals in that family. This means even when you get medical insurance coverage for yourself, you may still, and rightly so fear for the fate of other individuals in the family, be they spouses, children or other dependants. That gives credit to the fact that individual medical insurance may not after all serve its purpose. Insurance should build confidence against the unknown!

But is that all about Individual medical insurance

Certainly not! We would of course not have a valid argument if we do not consider the fact that there are circumstances where individual medical insurance becomes the only and indeed the very right option.

For example, is there any reason why someone with no family (I mean one who is not responsible for any dependants) should not go for individual medical insurance? Certainly there isn’t. It is perfectly what he or she needs.

It may also need pointing out that individual medical insurance is better tailored to individual medical needs. Each person has their own medical needs or risks. It thus follows that medical insurance coverage got for a group or family as a whole may not cover the specific needs of each person, hence the need for individual medical insurance.

Thus, it is only subject to critical analysis by each individual. The point is; individual medical insurance may not be all you need and yet to some it may be the right way to go. So discover what fits your needs.