Other Types of Health Insurance

Other types of health insurance include disability income insurance, dental insurance, and long-term care insurance. Disability income insurance provides funds that partly replace income lost when the insured person cannot work because of an accident or illness. Dental insurance helps pay for a wide variety of services. Such preventive services as cleaning and X rays are often fully covered. Most policies provide limited coverage for other dental services by paying a maximum dollar amount or percentage of the cost of those services. Long-term care (LTC) insurance provides coverage for nursing home care and related expenses.

Some employers offer plans called medical savings accounts (MSA's), which allow people to set aside money for medical costs that are not covered by insurance. The money is deducted from workers' paychecks and is not taxed. Similar plans known as flexible spending accounts (FSA's) allow people to spend the funds on children's day care and summer camp expenses, in addition to normal medical costs.