If you don’t have any Virginia Health Insurance, or don’t have adequate cover, then you could find yourself in the unenviable position of having to pay back an enormous amount of money if you require medical treatment.
Unfortunately, there are more people in this position in Virginia then you may realize, because figures from 2011 show that 13% of the population of Virginia were uninsured, which is well over a million people (1,039,300 to be exact).
Most of the private health insurance policies (56%) that are active are Group Virginia Health Insurance Plans that people buy through their place of work, whilst a much smaller percentage (5%) are Individual Virginia Health Insurance Plans that they buy directly from the insurance companies, with the remaining 25% coming from Medicaid, Medicare and other public and government initiatives.
The Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association regularly publishes up to date statistics about the costs associated with health care in Virginia, and they make interesting reading if you are contemplating whether or not you can afford the costs of Virginia Health Insurance.
Here is a list of the Ten Most Common Types of Hospitalizations in Virginia in 2010, along with an average cost of how much a hospital in Virginia actually charges for that treatment:
Normal Newborn Birthweight 2500g - $2,316
Vaginal Delivery with no other Procedure - $8,034
Knee Replacement - $49,183
Cesarean Delivery - $14,605
Pneumonia - $19,649
Heart Failure - $20,820
Blood Poisoning / Septicemia - $37,720
Hip Replacement - $49,026
Bipolar Disorders - $12,078
Irregular Heartbeat - $15,175
It is also worth pointing out that despite these high costs, that this doesn’t include the surgeon’s fees or anesthesiologist fees. This is only the hospital charges, and so in reality the final bill you would receive would be much higher if you didn’t have any Virginia Health Insurance and were responsible for paying the bill personally.
But nevertheless, the average cost for the ten MOST COMMON procedures is still $22,860!
If you have to have treatment for something less common like a lung transplant then it would cost $352,065; or a heart transplant even more at $635,004.
Remember, these are ACTUAL figures. Someone will have to pay for these medical costs, and if it isn’t the insurance company, then it will have to be you.
Faced with the realities of the health care costs in Virginia it becomes a little more understandable why the cost of health insurance in Virginia is so high. So that even if you may not like the idea of paying high premiums (who does?) It is still worth making sure that you secure Comprehensive Virginia Health Insurance for you and your family, because the alternative to doing so is to possibly face bankruptcy if anything unexpected ever happens with your health and you have to have treatment.
The two main ways that you can get health insurance arranged is either through signing on for a group policy where you work, or else applying for an individual policy yourself.
Both methods can work out fine, with individual policies having flexibility on their side, whilst group policies are often easier to get and tend to be cheaper in terms of the premiums that you have to pay out.
If you can get a policy through your work that is good and has sufficient amounts of cover and good terms and conditions, then it is well worth doing.
If however you are not currently working and that is not an option, then you should still take steps to get an individual Virginia Health Insurance Plan arranged, because despite the difficulties that it may present in affording to pay the premiums when money is tight, the alternative does not stand thinking about.
