Is Individual Insurance Better Than Insurance For The Whole Family

By J. D Theis

Insurance is something which has become more of a basic need than an added advantage these days. There was a time when only people with enough expendable income used to go out and get insurance. But nowadays, it is in fact enforced in some cases such as foreign travel or education. And even in some countries, health insurance is a rule of law rather than personal choice.

But we are here to discuss the merits or demerits or having individual insurance versus insurance for the whole family. Let us first discuss the characteristics of each of the two and then decide as to which one is better.

An individual insurance plan as the name indicates is one which covers just one person. That person may be you or one of your family members. The cost of the plan might vary depending on what you require. An indemnity plan usually gives you freedom of choice but is a way lot expensive than a managed plan or HMO. A managed plan is something which is limited in its scope, but is a good trade off if you are generally a healthy person who just visits the doctor for a yearly checkup or the occasional minor illness.

A family plan is obviously more expensive than an individual plan. It all depends on the number of people covered. More the number of members covered, more is the cost. But coming to the cost per individual, it will work out cheaper than an individual plan. This is because the provider is assured of a number of members from the same family. And again, there are indemnity plans and pay per fee plans which vary in cost, scope and freedom of choice. If you do not have much to spare, then a managed plan is usually best to meet your needs. This way you will have your basic coverage but you might have to walk the extra mile to get things done. That's the way with most services which come cheap.

So coming down to which one is actually a better plan. An individual insurance plan is definitely going to be more expensive than a family plan. But if you are a single working individual, then you are not left with much choice. Even then, it makes sense to add your parents to the plan. This way you can share the costs and each individual will be paying lesser at the end of the day.

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