Health Insurance: What Is It and Why Do You Need It?

Did this question ever cross your mind? Health insurance: what is it and why do you need it? The simple answer mate, is everyone who has a job needs it. And what is health insurance in the first place? You do know of course that at least once in our lives, we'll encounter some sort of health issue. Be it caused by a tiny freak accident, like cuts from the kitchen knife. Or something a bit more morbid like a vehicular accident. And if you do, pretty soon those medical costs begin to pile up. So the next time you stare at your reduced paycheck because of our health insurance, it will be better not to grumble about it. Paying for medical care directly from our own pockets is incredibly expensive. Besides, most developed nations require our employers to provide us with a legitimate health insurance that we all could rely on.

History of Health Insurance

Dating back to the ancient world of In Mesopotamia, under the Code of Hammurabi, health insurance saw its birth in answer to the needs of the common folks for a trained surgeon. But more importantly, the author of the Code of Hammurabi which is King Hammurabi, conceptualized the idea of insurance in general, to protect the greater public. During his time, there was an explosion of growth in terms of the trade industry in Mesopotamia. And the rest, as they say, is history. To this day, his introduction of insurance has been so effective that it has become de rigueur for every known civilized world to adapt this system.

Why Health Insurance is Important for You and Me

Health insurance is vital for everyone. It is important for you and me because it helps our governing bodies to help respond to an individual's immediate health needs. If say, you'll need a kidney operation that would normally cost you a quarter of a million dollars in surgical fees and after-care medication, your life would be immediately put to risk if you are not covered by any form of medical insurance. So do you work extra hours to help pay your bills? What if you can't? Can you imagine having to still bag those groceries I purchased when you could very well infect me with a life-threatening virus because of your compromised health? What if I also spread this virus then? What we'll have is a full-blown epidemic which will cost our government millions, if not billions of dollars to contain. Health insurance protects you and your loved ones by helping the rest of our citizens healthy. Short of living all alone in a secluded island, there is no other way to prevent this possibly tragic scenario.

Health insurance has taken a beating lately due to the increasingly older population of our predecessors. Being young and confident sometimes makes us a bit selfish. But this selfishness could easily work against us pretty fast. What if it's our baby or sibling who can't be helped by the health providers because of our destroyed health insurance system? Actually, in asking questions like health insurance: what is it and why do you need it, it'll better for all of us that health insurance, whatever it is, is needed by absolutely everyone.