When thinking of shopping a health insurance plan, you might be stuck between choosing public health insurance cover or the private. You can make your decision once you understand the difference between the two. Do they offer the same quality services or operate using similar terms? The difference between the two is that public health insurance will pay for you to be attended to in a public health facility while private health insurance pays for its patients to access treatment services in the private sector.
The public system and private health insurance quotes differ as a result of the gap between hospitals and doctors. The private is a bit expensive but has proved to be more effective over the years in that patients are attended to almost immediately while the public system patients lurk in the long queues.
Delays are the order of the day in these public systems with the private system boasting of shorter waiting periods. These are some of the reasons why people prefer the private system. However, this does not rule out the effectiveness of the public system since it is well packed with able and highly skilled professionals.
More contrasting factors between a public health insurance cover and a private insurance cover
The public system offers its services at highly discounted rates, therefore, can be afforded by laymen. The premiums for a public insurance plan is quite reasonable as compared to the private system insurance plan with high-cost premiums.
The public health insurance plan does not cater to such services as dental, physiotherapy, chiropractic, optical and complementary therapies while a private health insurance policy with extra covers such as ancillary cover will cater to all these services.
In the public system, you can be attended by any doctor who is on duty during your hospitalization period or during your appointment but this is not the case in the private system. The private health insurance plan gives its patients the freedom to select the doctor they prefer to attend to them. However, in case you went to the hospital and fin that your preferred physician is attending another patient, the doctor on duty will have to attend to you especially if its an emergency case.
Also, private patients have the liberty to choose appropriate days for their appointment or treatment. Such can’t happen in the public system, the doctor sets the dates for appointment or surgery
Public hospital rooms can accommodate 4-6 patients at a time and these patients are supposed to remain in those rooms or wards. However, the private health insurance plan allows their patients to choose between staying in the hospital or going home. In some cases but this depends on the policy terms; a patient can be allocated a private room. Note that it is not compulsory to get a private room unless there is a free room.
People believe that private health insurance plans are the best, but evidence proves that public health system coverage is cost-effective and therefore suitable for families. The kind of service offered by doctors in the public sector is unmatched. However, each of these health insurance plans has its hurdles.
