Supplemental health insurance details
originally posted: 11/22/2006 reposted: 2/18/2011 This post has not been recently reviewed or revised by the author and may be out of date. If in doubt, please send a new question or ask for an update.
Q: I would like to have more information on supplemental health insurance.
A: Supplemental health insurance is less complicated than regular health insurance so all of the relevant details are usually included in an enrollment brochure. This information includes sections on 1) who is eligible, 2) the benefits, 3) the exclusions and 4) procedural issues. All of these policies pay a relatively small cash benefit to the insured rather than to a medical service provider. Benefits are paid separately and in addition to any other insurance. Typically, questions about this type of insurance focus on whether the policy is available to cover a specific pre-existing medical condition and so the article "Finding Health Insurance to Cover Pre-existing Medical Conditions" may be useful for this purpose. The most popular policies available both through an employer-provided benefit plan as well as directly to individuals are the "Basic Health Insurance" plans at www.basichealthinsurance.net and the Value plans known as "Value Health" and Value Med" at www.FreedomBenefits.net .