What is Hospital Indemnity Insurance?
Hospital indemnity insurance covers hospital stays. Policyholders receive a fixed amount of daily, weekly, or monthly benefits, and this amount does not depend on the actual charges the patient incurs at the hospital; instead, it is a fixed dollar amount for each increment of time. This is a type of supplemental insurance plan, meaning that it offers another layer of protection to the insurance policy holder on top of their primary medical care plan, and does not mean to provide the policyholder with a wide range of coverage. Instead, it offers very specific support to pay out-of-pocket and uncovered expenses that the primary plan leaves behind—large deductibles for instance—while a policyholder is in the hospital. Such monies can take the place of lost wages or pay for excluded prescriptions, if necessary.
Many insurance companies offer hospital indemnity insurance policies alongside their primary care plans, and many policyholders purchase both plans at the same time—some carriers may even offer small discounts for purchasing multiple plans simultaneously—along with other forms of supplemental insurance to fill in the gaps that their primary plan has. Hospital indemnity insurance plans are available to policyholders of individual plans as well as members of group policies; interested parties should contact their insurance representative for available options.