Healthcare and health insurance are often talked about in the same breath or seen as essentially interchangeable, part of the same system which ensures that as many people as possible receive the treatments and support they need.
Of course, there are some significant differences between these two aspects which become apparent as soon as you do a little digging.
Understanding them is helpful for everyone, so let’s unpick a few core facts about healthcare and health insurance so that you aren’t in the dark any longer.
Insurance requirements vary globally
The way that healthcare is paid for differs from country to country, and while health insurance is available virtually everywhere, the extent to which it is required varies a lot.
For example, while nations like the UK offer free healthcare at the point of need without any insurance involved, others like the US have a greater focus on private healthcare, with services like PolicyScout allowing patients to pick and choose from coverage that fits their needs and budget.
Of course, there are private health insurance firms and private healthcare facilities in the UK, which operate alongside and often in cooperation with publicly funded hospitals.
Likewise, some types of treatment are not covered by public health services, with cosmetic surgeries and dentistry sometimes falling outside of the remit of taxpayer-funded care.
All of this adds up to a state of affairs that can seem very complicated and convoluted from an international perspective. However, so long as you focus on a local level and look at the insurance requirements and services that are relevant to you, it should be much more straightforward.
Cover for travel is essential
One thing that can be unambiguously stated in relation to health insurance is that you should get cover if you are planning to travel overseas.
Having a travel insurance package covering medical costs you might incur will protect you from potentially ruinous bills that could mount up if you need treatment on foreign soil.
Even countries where universal healthcare is available may still charge international visitors for treatment, so it is not a risk worth taking. Likewise, your domestic health insurance policy will probably not include overseas travel as standard, so an additional cover is almost always a requirement.
Costs of healthcare are inconsistent
Another point to make about healthcare in this context is that it is not only how it is paid for, which varies from place to place, but also how much particular treatments, surgeries, and medicines cost, which can be starkly different.
This explains the trend of health tourism, which sees people willing to travel great distances to find more affordable solutions to their healthcare woes in a different part of the planet than on their doorstep.
Sometimes price differences are to do with government subsidies, sometimes to do with market pressures and economic factors, and sometimes as a result of how regulations and standards change in different regions.
This leads to the unavoidable fact that healthcare quality is not the same, both domestically and internationally. If you have the privilege of traveling for treatment and deep enough pockets to cover the costs, this is not an issue, but there are limitations to consider and a degree of luck involved for everyone else.
Healthcare and health insurance are constantly evolving and are intrinsically linked. Public and private systems each have their benefits and downsides, but progress is undeniably being made, and care quality is creeping up year on year.
