Health insurance in Canada is a crucial component of the healthcare system that provides health protection and budget management for Canadians. It ensures that essential healthcare services are accessible to you financially while helping protect your finances against unexpected medical expenses, to make sure your budget stays intact.
No matter how young or healthy you are, a serious injury or hospital stay could set you back thousands of dollars. That’s money you may be putting towards buying a car, saving for a wedding or dream vacation or buying a house, and even investing towards retirement. That’s why it’s important to consider health insurance as part of your overall financial plan.
What is health insurance?
Health insurance in Canada is like having a safety net for your health and your wallet. It helps you pay for important professional therapist visits, medicine, and treatments, so you don’t have to worry about huge bills if you get sick or hurt. Basically, it means you can focus on living your life and not stressing about surprise medical costs messing up your plans.
Health insurance is a type of insurance coverage that helps you pay for covered medical expenses – like when you require therapy, are sick and need medication or get hurt and need nursing care or medical equipment — you incur while holding the health insurance policy. By reimbursing you for incurred medical expenses or by paying medical providers directly, health insurance plans help you manage high healthcare expenses by sharing the cost of medical care with the insurance company.
Why do you need it? Here are four reasons
1. Universal Healthcare
Basic healthcare and medical services are covered by provincial plans – like going to the doctor or the hospital – ensuring that essential healthcare is accessible to everyone.
2. Personal Health Insurance
This insurance fills the gaps left by provincial coverage, providing additional protection for services like prescription drugs, therapy, vision care and even emergency medical travel coverage.
3. Cost Management
By covering a wide range of services, health insurance helps manage healthcare costs, reducing the financial burden on you and your family – including preventative care.
4. Flexibility
Personal health insurance plans can be customized to meet your individual needs and budget, even if you have some employer coverage but especially if you don’t, are not working or are self-employed.
How much does health insurance cost?
Health insurance costs you a monthly amount called a premium payment – that’s what you need to work into your budget.
Health insurance premiums can vary so much from person to person, you may wonder how much it will cost. The answer is ‘it depends’ – on you, what you choose, and how many people are covered by your plan. Here’s a great article on understanding what goes into a health insurance premium.
You may even be able to deduct the cost of your premiums every year on your income tax. Check out this article to see if this can work for you.
How does health insurance work?
You apply for coverage online or over the phone, and when your application is accepted by the insurance company, you begin paying your premiums and your coverage is in effect – sometimes immediately, and sometimes at the beginning of the next month depending on the policy you have. Here’s a great article on how to get health insurance in just a few days.
With your policy, the health insurance company pays for the healthcare services and coverage outlined in the plan’s documents.
What does health insurance cover?
Every health insurance plan is different, so it’s important to research your choices, understand the health insurance costs associated with each plan, and know what your plan does and doesn’t cover.
Basically, you choose a plan that covers prescription drugs and extended healthcare services, or you choose one that covers those and dental expenses too.
Extended healthcare services are things like
- Medical equipment
- Vision care
- Physiotherapy
- Massage
- Hearing aids
- Mental health support
- Emergency travel coverage
And your coverage can even include reward programs.
Do you really need health insurance?
It’s a good idea to have it because of the key benefits it can provide like:
- Protecting you (and your family) from both unexpected and planned medical expenses. Without health insurance, you will have to pay the full amount out-of-pocket for healthcare that you need that is not covered by the government. Those medical bills could result in a significant amount of debt if you don’t have enough cash on hand
- Saving you from tapping into your other savings, so you can still reach your other financial goals. If you don’t have health insurance and you have high healthcare costs, you might be forced to use funds from other sources like your retirement savings to pay for medical expenses.
- Helping you catch potential health issues before they become more serious through preventative care or keeping on track with chronic conditions. Early intervention can help you address health concerns before they escalate, and taking care of a chronic condition helps you live a better life.
What should I do if I don’t have health insurance coverage?
You want to have a policy in place before you need medical care. Here’s a good article on when you should apply. Even if you have health issues now, you can still apply and get great coverage.
At SBIS we offer our exclusive PRISM health insurance plans, or you can choose GMS coverage or Manulife coverage – there are 100s of plans, and one of them will fit your needs and budget. Need help deciding? We make that easy. You can get health insurance quotes, results, applications, and all things associated with your health insurance questions served up quickly and online at SBIS. If you prefer a personal touch, just give us a call at at 1-800-667-0429 or 416-601-0429, Monday to Friday 8:45 a.m. – 4:45 p.m. eastern time.
