Hospital Indemnity Insurance a Financial Safety Net Protecting Families from the Unexpected

If you are not familiar with hospital indemnity coverage, it provides a set amount of cash per day you can use for unforeseen out-of-pocket expenses if you are hospitalized.

Here is an example of how it works.

Sam Smith bought a policy paying a $150 per day benefit.

Months later, he spent 10 days in the hospital.

The policy paid Sam $1,500 during his stay. He used the money for deductibles, services not covered under his medical plan and transportation for a member of his family.

Surprising statistics

These facts may open your eyes about costs related to hospitalization:

• Inpatient hospital care makes up nearly a third of the health care expenses in the nation
• The average hospital stay is 4 ½ days and costs about $10,400
• Primary causes of hospitalization in seniors include:
• Congestive heart failure
• Pneumonia
• Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
• Medication issues

Clear benefits

Once you are in the hospital, it is too late to supplement your health coverage. As with any type of safety net, it must be in place before you need it.

Which brings us to another compelling reason to purchase hospital indemnity coverage. The policy will pay for itself if you have just one hospital stay – which becomes more likely as you get older.

Hospital indemnity products vary

Some policies will let you choose your hospital, rather than be limited to a specific hospital network.

There are plans covering maternity costs, outpatient services and coverage per ambulance trip, as well as ones that do not require deductibles or copayments.

Still others have lump-sum cancer riders with a benefit for a cancer diagnosis. These typically pay out once during the lifetime of the policy.

AmeriLife agents are familiar with the variety of hospital indemnity plans offered by the insurance carriers we work with.

One of them can sit down with you to review the features and limitations of these policies to help ensure you select the one that best fits your needs.

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Sources: AARP; Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; National Safety Council Injury Facts, 2015 Edition