Here at Georgia Insurance Options, we’ve been hearing this question a lot lately:
“Is health care the same as health insurance?”
This question is making health care the hot-button issue these days, and it’s also making health care the most misunderstood thing around. There’s a major difference between the two, and we’re going to take a short look at what makes health care the target of so much attention in Washington today.
The short answer: health insurance is what pays for heath care. Health insurance, held by individuals or groups, is a system into which the policy holder pays so that when a medical problem arises there’s someone to pay the comparably larger bill, making health care the recipient of health insurance dollars and provider of medical care.
Now, a lot of people lately are mixing up universal health care and universal health insurance – but these are two vastly different things. Universal health insurance refers to a system in which absolutely everyone would be able to get health insurance on a guaranteed-issue basis, regardless of pre-existing conditions. The result of this is that costs would rise for insurance companies (because those insurance will have to pay the medical bills of less healthy people, and with health care the prices for treatment are obviously higher for the more critically ill) and that premiums would rise across the board for insured persons.
Universal health care refers to extending health care coverage to everyone, making health care the step-brother of health insurance in a way. Universal health care is related to universal health insurance, but that doesn’t make health care the same as health insurance by any stretch.
Here at Georgia Insurance Options, we strive to bring impartial views on industry trends and to correct misconceptions such as this without bias. While I publicly neither support nor decry universal health insurance or universal health care, I realize that our current political climate has made health care the issue on everyone’s mind. I hope that this short article has made this issue somewhat more understandable and has answered the question that we set out to address: “Is health care the same as health insurance?” While they’re related, and are becoming more and more intertwined at the governmental level, for now we still have a private system, making health care the realm of the doctors and insurance the realm of the agents and insurers.
If you have any questions or concerns about this article, or you just want some help making health care the topic of your next talk with your agent, please feel free to contact me. And, since you’re here already, why not make saving on health insurance a priority like you’ve made learning about health care the focus of the past few minutes? You can get a free, personalized insurance quote right here at Georgia Insurance Options – we’re still in a private health insurance system, why not save a little money?
