The cost of treatment in the hospitals in the country has gone up exponentially in the last few years. So much so, that it has become out of bounds for certain groups in the population, especially those living in poverty. It is an irony that with so much expansion of healthcare services in the country, these very services are proving to be elusive for the low income group families. People belonging to the low income groups are more at risk of developing diseases as they live in conditions that are conducive for certain diseases. They have the option of insurance, but they do not consider it as their first priority is to arrange for the basic necessities of life and they can ill afford the premiums of an insurance plan. Keeping this in mind, the government has introduced some health insurance programs that have been targeted to embrace most of the people belonging to low income groups. It needs to be impressed upon the people belonging to low income groups that they are better off taking policies under these programs as they will be worst hit in case of illnesses and diseases as they cannot afford the medical expenses involved during treatment in a hospital. But if they have the umbrella of any health insurance program with low premiums, they need not bother of such emergencies.
State Children’s Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP)
This is a program launched to ensure that every child gets a health insurance plan. All children are eligible for low premium programs introduced by the government whether their parents are eligible for them or not. Some of these programs are Medicare, Medicaid and several other such programs.
Special programs of private insurance companies
Sensing their social responsibilities, some private insurance companies have offered plans with ver low premium that protect low income families in cases of medical emergencies such as serious injury or critical illness. But these programs do not offer routine medical care.
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