Health Insurance

Contrary to general assumptions, health insurance was not always a must-have in America. As recently as fifty years ago, it was quite common to be uninsured for all but the most catastrophic medical expenses. But times have changed, and some form of health insurance is in many respects a necessity today. As the costs of everything from doctors visits to prescription drugs has steadily risen, it is increasingly difficult for people to pay most medical expenses out of pocket. The most common solution is usually a policy offered through your employer. However, there are other ways of becoming insured, including buying an individual policy (though this is often pricey), buying insurance as part of a group, or using a Health Savings Account to buy a high-deductible policy that covers only major issues like extended hospital stays or surgeries. The older and/or less healthy you are, the more important it is to be insured. Liability insurance is crucial for anyone operating a business that exposes others to risk. Doctors, for instance, are required to purchase malpractice insurance to protect against lawsuits stemming from mistakes or wrongdoing in their work. Construction companies buy liability insurance as well, to protect against workplace accidents involving their employees. The general principle is that if your business entails the possibility of others being harmed, you are obligated either by law or rationality to buy some form of liability insurance. Unfortunately, liability insurance is often quite expensive. Doctors frequently cite the prohibitively high cost of malpractice insurance as a reason they go out of business.