Should I buy medical insurance when I’m already covered by my employer? This is a common question I get and I understand why you might ask it.
There are 2 things on your mind. First, should I pay my own money for something I might not need until I retire and secondly, should I depend on the company cover? These are 2 main consideration.
Working as an employee have its good points and one of the perks is that you get group medical insurance. Employers provides such cover to retain staff, to attract talent and to avoid paying medical bills out of their own pocket.
Even so, I firmly recommend my customers to have some form of individual medical insurance because:-
- employers can and will change the medical insurance benefits they give to you. Normally it is done without your knowledge until you need to make a claim
- insurance companies change their terms (the fine print) without you or even your employers knowledge
- your past medical history automatically excludes you. In big organizations, you don’t even fill up any form. Unless your company is buying a big policy on you (usually for top management staff only). At the point of making a claim, some insurance will point to a pre-existing illness and you can’t make any claim
- your employer or your spouse’s stops offering insurance for you or your family
- you might suffer a critical illness like cancer or stroke, and the amount provided by your employer is not sufficient
Having you own medical insurance means you are in control and have a backup cover. Besides that, here are some situations which you might end up needing to seek affordable individual medical insurance:
- you lose (or quit) your job
- you have insurance through your spouse, and they lose or quit their job
- you change jobs, and your new employer has a waiting period before you become eligible for coverage
- you decided to retire early
These are some reason you should think about when you ask yourself “Should I buy medical insurance”
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