It should almost go without saying that your kids need health insurance coverage. Children and teenagers are acclimating their bodies to the diseases that they will come across almost every day for the rest of their lives, and as they go through these things, their bodies create the things that can fight them off in the future. In addition, kids are just naturally prone to having more accidents like broken arms and such due to having a lifestyle that is much more active, as they prove to themselves over and over again that they are not invulnerable.
But with all that said, it is truly alarming to read recent reports that indicate that more than 3% of the children and teenagers in the US either do not have kids health insurance or have had their health insurance lapse for an appreciable period of time over the course of the year. And this fact remains even after realizing that most of these kids have at least one parent with their own or employer-provided health insurance. If you care to do the math, that is about three million uninsured kids.
Why do parents allow this to happen? Almost certainly it is a financial decision rather than a conscious one. In these economic times, many people need to cut back somewhere, but they do not realize or fully appreciate the catastrophic financial burden they would have to bear if something serious were to happen to their kids, where they would utilize the kids health insurance coverage.
To a certain extent, it is a crap shoot. If your kids remain safe and do not get sick and do not sustain the very typical playground injuries, then you could say that paying on a health insurance plan is money out the window. But what happens when your young son breaks his arm or your teenager wrecks the family car in an accident? Would you like to be the parent who needs to decide whether they should provide very expensive medical treatment for their child, or to just put a bandaid on it and hope that it will heal itself over time?
The biggest problem overall is that most parents realize that they need a kids health insurance plan. Kids will be kids, and that includes the occasional broken bones, the occasional prescription medications, and the occasional mishap in the family car. Parents realize this, and if they don’t, it does not take long for that realization to set in.
But the assumption that parents make is that kids health insurance plans are just too expensive, and unfortunately, many parents feel that they need to take the crap shoot approach where they just hope and pray that nothing serious will happen.
Note the keyword used there – assumption. For parents who have not done their research, kids health insurance plans can be obtained for probably far less than you think it will cost. That does not mean second rate coverage or second rate doctors, but it does mean that there are plans available out there that can be customized to provide the level and amount of coverage you need, combined with where that fits into your budget. Even a low end plan is better than having no kids health insurance coverage at all.
Take the time to research what is available and make at least a little bit of room in your budget to make sure your kids are covered for health insurance. The question is not IF but rather is WHEN you will be thankful that you did provide that coverage for your kids.
