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Medical Insurance for a Family
We get it—keeping your family healthy can feel overwhelming, especially when you are unsure where to turn to get medical insurance for a family. But don’t worry! There are several ways to gain medical coverage for you and your loved ones!
Employer Insurance Coverage
Most companies, especially larger ones with several employees, offer several types of insurance coverage, including individual and group medical insurance. A few examples of coverage a company may provide include:
Group Health Insurance Coverage – the company group insurance plan provides coverage to all eligible employees.
Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) – the company reimburses employees for any medical expenses. All funding for HRAs comes from the company itself.
Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) – These accounts are personal savings accounts in which money is set aside to pay for medical expenses. These funds are also tax-free.
Private Insurance
This category is vast! There are several insurance providers, and there are several types of plans. Currently, there are a few types of plans on the market:
- On-Exchange (Marketplace) or Obamacare with a subsidy
- Off-Exchange (Off Marketplace) or Obamacare without a subsidy
- Short-Term Medical
- Indemnity Plans
- Healthcare Ministry (Medical Expense Sharing Program)
You can read more about each plan on our health website! Ultimately, it may be best to meet with a licensed agent and gain their insight into which plan would be the best for your family.
Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), as defined on healthcare.gov, was the “comprehensive health care reform law” enacted in March 2010, and it had three goals:
- “Make affordable health insurance available to more people. The law provides consumers with subsidies (the “premium tax credit”) that lower costs for households with incomes between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty level (FPL).”
- “Expand Medicaid to cover all adults with income below 138% of the FPL. (Not all states have expanded their Medicaid programs.)”
- “Support innovative medical care delivery methods designed to lower the costs of health care generally.”
By utilizing ACA, you may be able to find an insurance plan for your family that isn’t as costly as private insurance plans while also maintaining several options to choose from.
Medicaid / CHIP
Two government-provided medical insurance services are Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, commonly known as CHIP. While the extent of coverage will vary from state to state, the main purpose of each still applies and will help obtain medical insurance for a family. Medicaid helps cover individuals such as those who receive SSI (supplemental security income), pregnant women, children, and low-income citizens. There are several other factors that determine eligibility other than financial standings. The full list of eligibility can be found online here.
CHIP provides coverage for the children of families who fall between Medicaid and private insurance, that is, their earnings are too high for Medicaid, yet they cannot afford to own private insurance. Benefits under CHIP include hospital care, optometry (eyes and vision), otolaryngology (ear, nose, throat), pre-existing condition treatment, and more.
Did you like this article? Try out this one on our sister site: 10 Essential Health Insurance Plans That Protect You From Unexpected Medical Costs.
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We hope that this information on medical insurance for a family was useful to you.
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