Health Insurance and High-Risk Jobs

Who are our heroes? Some of us admire folk heroes such as Robin Hood, William Wallace, and Spartacus. Others of us honor great thinkers of the past, including statesmen, philosophers, and scientists. Modern-day heroes include paramedics, policemen and firefighters. You put your life on the line to keep others safe, and deserve quality health insurance.

Safeguard your health by requesting a health insurance quote!

High Risk Jobs Mean High Risk Health Insurance

If you are a police officer, upholsterer, paramedic, animal breeder, firefighter or packer, then you have a high-risk job. These high-risk jobs also require high-risk tasks, which could cause significant health concerns for workers. For example, as a firefighter you face several occupational hazards, including collapsing buildings causing falls, heat exposure resulting in heat stress, exposure to carbon monoxide gas, and overexertion. In another instance, as an animal breeder who works with domestic animals, you may obtain the illness Q fever, which the bacteria Coxiella burnetii causes.

Filling the Health Insurance Gap

If you have a high-risk job working for companies and local, state, or national governments, you probably have excellent health insurance coverage. In fact, the gap of health insurance between the time these workers retire, until they receive Medicare, has become a political issue. Some politicians are proposing that these workers be provided with free health insurance, during this gap.

Mission Impossible: High-Risk Healthcare

However, if you have a high-risk job and are self-employed, have pre-existing medical conditions from a previous job, or work for a company that provides no health insurance coverage, you may have to join a “high-risk pool.” These are designed for those for whom purchasing a health insurance policy is either challenging or impossible. These pools usually provide coverage for various chronic diseases. Also, they allow their members to select a health maintenance organization (HMO) or preferred provider organization (PPO).

Nonetheless, you should consider some drawbacks of high-risk pools. Components such as deductibles are typically higher than for health insurance plans provided at jobs. Also, these pools almost always require you to wait half a year or a year, until they cover claims on the health conditions that made you eligible for the pool!

Getting Your High Risk Health Coverage

Lastly, if you are a high-risk job holder searching for health insurance, you must consider particular legal issues. One is a medical power of attorney, in which you give medical consent to someone else, when you cannot. This document allows you to place limits on medical treatment. Without a medical power of attorney or a spouse, healthcare providers sometimes require a guardianship proceeding when you cannot give medical consent. If you have a high-risk job, you risk everything. So your health insurance should cover everything.

Get the protection you deserve with a free health plan quote.

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