Emergency care insurance is specifically designed to provide assistance with payment of medical treatment in an emergency or urgent care situation. This type of insurance does not typically cover doctor visits or standard checkups that are needed for ongoing health, which other forms of medical insurance may provide. Emergency care insurance is designed to help someone pay for a visit to a hospital emergency room due to a sudden and potentially life-threatening issue, such as an injury or unforeseen illness. These types of plans may have limited uses, such as a set number of times each year a person can pay for emergency care through the insurance plan.
The basic idea behind emergency care insurance is that some people may want coverage for serious medical issues, without the expense of fuller coverage. Someone may not be able to afford full scale health insurance, but through the provisions of emergency care insurance, he or she could be ready in case of a serious injury or sudden major illness. The types of medical issues covered by these insurance plans usually include anything that a hospital might consider serious enough for urgent, emergency care. Other medical concerns a person may have, that do not require emergency assistance, would not typically be covered by such a plan.
One of the major advantages of emergency care insurance is that it is often cheaper than other health insurance plans, since it provides a more limited form of coverage. This makes such plans ideal for businesses that need to be able to provide emergency care for employees or customers who may be injured on the premises of the company. In such a situation, the emergency care insurance may provide coverage for the employee, reducing potential expenses for the business. Most companies are willing to pay for such insurance to be prepared for an emergency, without paying higher rates for a service that may never be needed.
There are usually some stipulations on emergency care insurance to ensure that such plans are not abused or used for more services than they are intended. Many programs, for example, have a limitation on the coverage paid for any single visit, though it is often enough to pay for most initial emergency care services. Some emergency care insurance plans may have a limitation on the number of visits that can be claimed each year. While this may not be sufficient for some people, most businesses and individuals usually intend on only having, at most, one emergency hospital visit per year.