2 Things Riding A Camel Taught Me About Health Insurance

If you could ride a camel, would you?

I used to think that I would jump at the opportunity of it. After all, it’s nice to have exciting experiences once in a while, isn’t it?

I changed my mind when my father said that he once fell from a camel, though.

Granted, the fall isn’t that dangerous, but still.

What if he wasn’t lucky? What if he fell and a vital organ got damaged? What if, right? (obligatory knock-on-wood three times).

This is what I was thinking as we were on the way to the Sea Line Beach in Qatar.

Papa, LJ and Mama

Nothing in life is ever certain. Diseases, accidents and other health-related conditions can just rise up and strike you out of nowhere.

Take my father, for instance.

Sure, the camels do look cute to look at, but I would have never thought that I would ride one, after hearing what he said!

I mean, just look at this picture below. I looked afraid, no?

As I was about to ride the camel, I thought to myself, “OMG. If I pass away here, at least I already have a life insurance. But if I get hospitalized, I am not a dependent of my father anymore. I have no health insurance!”

So you can see why I was thinking of health insurance while riding a camel, right? What are these two things that I thought of?

1. Coverage

When the camel was still sitting down, it wasn’t so bad to ride it because I thought that it wasn’t so tall.

When it stood up, I panicked. It was so tall so riding it was like sitting on the roof of a van!

The same goes with your hospitalization costs: When you’re not yet hospitalized, you think that the costs will only be low. But if you’re already hospitalized, the costs will be sky-high.

Don’t judge me.

In line with this, you should choose a private health insurance plan that can give you the coverage that is a bit higher than you really think – just make sure to fit it into your budget.

A Maximum Benefit Limit (MBL) of P60,000 per illness/injury per year might seem okay at first…until you read horror stories such like this.

Another thing to consider is to make your coverage personalized to you. Hey, if you’re a guy with no spouse, there’s no reason for you to get a pregnancy package for yourself, right? If you need a dentist, get dental coverage.

2. Language

The man who owns the camel has a string that he uses to guide the camel in walking. When the man walks fast, the camel walks fast, too. When he slows down, the camel does the same.

Because the man never slows down, I asked him to – in English.

The only problem is that he speaks Arabic so when I asked him to slow down, he didn’t understand me. (Good thing papa caught up to us and talked to him in Arabic, though!)

Same thing with health insurance: if your health insurance agent is talking about different terms and you don’t understand him, ask questions. Request him to simplify.

Know what is covered and what isn’t covered. Don’t just assume that everything is covered just because your agent says it is.

Read your plan’s brochure and make sure that you understand everything before signing anything. Some questions you can ask are:

Can I use my current doctors?
Are pre-existing conditions covered?
Am I covered abroad?
Are prescription medications covered? How about annual physical exams? Physical therapy?
How often can I use the benefits?
Do I shell out money and you’ll just reimburse me later, or will you cover the costs right then and there?
Can my mother/father/sibling be included as dependents? What are the requirements?

Health insurance is something that you’d definitely need during your lifetime. People around you aren’t always going to be there to lend you money when you need it. Don’t feel self-entitled!

A PhilHealth plan is always a good start, but be sure to take it up a notch and get private health insurance, too.

You know what they say – a person is only one financial disaster away from a bankruptcy.

Get health insurance for yourself and for your family.

Fired up to manage your money yet?

Contact your trusted financial advisor (or me! 🙂 ) to help you get started.

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Live wisely,

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2 Things Riding A Camel Taught Me About Health Insurance

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