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Health insurance and Presciption drug insurance
Health insurance
Just as its name suggests it, health insurance ensures you a good health... well, mostly financially! If you were to have an accident and had to pay very expensive hospital bills, it would be very hard for you to keep your quality of life intact.
The medical system varies according to each country. In some countries, mostly in socialist ones, the taxes paid to the government cover the cost of most of the health bills. However, in more capitalist countries, each person must pay all the medical costs if that person does not have any health insurance.
The health insurance clauses can be very different, but generally, they can include hospital bills, dental bills, optometrist appointments, etc.
Procedure
By paying a certain fixed amount every year, you will have the right to be exempt of medical expenses, which will be paid by your insurance company. Clauses may vary from country to country and also according to your health insurance company. In some cases, there are additional fees for each intervention. For example, they can ask you to pay 50% of the medical bills when there is an accident, and in other cases, you will have to pay a fixed amount of $100 and the company will pay the rest.
Prescription drug insurance
Prescription drug insurance covers the costs you may encounter while buying prescription drugs. In Quebec, for example, prescription drug insurance is mandatory. The people who don't have private insurance must have public insurance from the Régie de l'assurance maladie du Québec. In this policy, people may buy prescription drugs at lower costs than normal. And so, when they pay for their drugs, a part of it is paid for by the policy and the other is paid by the patient.
Also, to be able to adhere to this prescription drug insurance, the person directly pays the governement while filling out his income taxes. In the case of private insurance, it is the employer who deals with it.
In other countries, it is about the same principle. Often enough, a list of drugs is offered by the insurance company. In that case, it is often more advantageous to get the drugs prescribed by a doctor than it is to buy off the counter.
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