Health Coverage

(HealthDayNews) -- Insufficient health coverage can lead to inadequate medical care.

If you need to buy your own health insurance, avoid being underinsured by answering these questions from Consumers Union:

• Does the plan limit your out-of-pocket costs once you have spent a fixed amount?
• Does it provide comprehensive benefits, including doctor and hospital care, and prescription drugs?
• Is the insurance company's schedule of allowable charges realistic when measured against health providers' fees?
• Does the policy require you to pay 50 percent for mental health services, and have other potentially costly limits on mental health coverage?
• Does it restrict lifetime benefits that would end if you suffered a catastrophic accident that, for example, left you paralyzed?

-- Felicity Stone