The Basics: About Hospital Health Insurance

About Hospital Health Insurance

Hospital expense coverage provides specific benefits for daily hospital room and board and usual hospital services and supplies during hospital stays.

Hospital/medical coverage may be extended in one of three ways:

-- A policy usually sold in combination with a physicians or surgical expense policy that provides benefits for both surgical operations and doctors in-hospital visits

--A major medical policy that provides broad and substantial coverage for many types of medical expenses

--A combination of hospital-physician-surgical coverage plus a supplemental major medical policy.

Room and board benefits are usually stated in one of two ways.
--Indemnity plans reimburse for the actual room-and-board charge up to a specified maximum dollar amount per day for hospital confinement.

--A service-type benefit that pays the full cost of a “semi-private” room-and-board charge.