It has become alarming that a growing number of fit and healthy people today actually think that they have nothing to do with health insurance. They exercise regularly, do not smoke or take alcohol, eat nothing but nutritious diet, and lead a healthy stress-free lifestyle. Some even convert to vegetarianism, practice yoga meditation, reiki, chi gong and other Eastern practices thought to prevent diseases and increase longevity. So who needs health insurance anyway?

Sadly though, a number of these health buffs, some in the prime of their lives, suddenly get sick and die. You've probably heard of this athlete who, while jogging, just suddenly keeled over and fell dead in his running shoes. This just disproves that being healthy means being invincible to all diseases and sickness. There will always be a "chink in your armor" that infections and dread diseases can penetrate.

Is health insurance only for the old and the sick?

If health is wealth, then it cannot be emphasized enough that having a health insurance is definitely one of the best investment you can ever have. The famous pro-gun slogan "It is better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it" can very well hold true for health insurance.

Health insurance has become one of the hot issues that often spark debates and controversies. Each individual has his or her own opinion as to who should get medical insurance. As was stated above, the healthy and the strong believe they don't need health insurance anymore. The sober truth is nobody is born with a crystal ball to gaze into their future. Nobody can foretell the time and circumstance when they will get sick and require medical attention.

Another problem is that uninsured healthy people have the tendency to miss health checkups and regular physicals that provide advance detection of dread diseases, abnormalities and malignancies that could be silently spreading in their system. This can lead to disastrous consequences.

What are the benefits of health insurance?

This popular type of insurance safeguards you and your family from sudden medical emergencies that could lead to financial crisis. A well-chosen health insurance plan can provide some financial security and save you from a lot of worries if and when urgent medical care should arise.

This insurance makes cash available to pay for the various medical expenses and health care requirements covered by the policy. It also covers disability expenses and long-time health care requirements like in-house nurses and caregivers. This means you get immediate and complete health care as compared to uninsured individuals.

How does health insurance maintain your health?

One misconception about this type of insurance is that it is ONLY a way of settling medical bills in case you became sick or got injured. While this is true, it is only a part of the many benefits of health insurance and not the whole. This type of insurance not only insures your health; it ensures it.

Keeping you in perfect health not only helps keep the cost of health care at a minimum. It can make health insurance premiums low and within reach of everyone. Health insurance providers like Blue Cross Blue Shield know the value of keeping you healthy. They are also aware that keeping you in good shape eventually saves them a lot of money.

Health insurance companies have various ways to make you aware of the benefits of staying healthy. One of them is through educating the public by means of available online materials and information. They make the public the public aware that smoking kills, that obesity leads to heart complications, that wearing protective gear lessens the damage of accidents or that stressful living leads to a shorter life span.