Hospital Indemnity Insurance, Specified Disease Insurance, and Long-Term Care Insurance Private health insurance offers policies limited in scope for specific insurance needs. These policies are not substitutes for Medigap insurance or comprehensive health coverage. Benefits under these policies are not designed to fill gaps in your Medicare coverage. Hospital indemnity insurance pays a fixed cash amount for each day you are in the hospital up to a certain number of days. Some policies may have added benefits such as surgical benefits or skilled nursing home confinement benefits.
Some policies have a maximum number of days or a maximum payment amount.
Specified disease insurance, which is only available in some states, pays benefits for only one disease, such as cancer, or for a group of specified diseases. The value of this coverage depends on the chance you will get the specific disease or diseases covered. Benefits are usually limited to a fixed amount for each type of treatment. This type of insurance will pay for some or all of your long-term care. Long-term care insurance is a relatively new type of insurance.