Are you a serious athlete? An occasional runner or one who doesn’t miss a day of racing, come sun, rain or snow? Of those who get on the bike and pedal to infinity and beyond? You are most likely in very good health. In some ways, your activity should help you get lower premiums on your health insurance- You are probably a healthy weight for your height (although sometimes exceptional levels of muscle could make your BMI, sometimes calculated by health insurance companies to help determine premiums, a bit misleading, misclassifying whether you’re overweight) and you most likely don’t smoke. However, hard training may require more frequent medical check-ups to follow preventive care, apart from the fact that so much training gives us a higher probability of suffering injuries; These two variables cause the price of health insurance to change .
Professional athletes and members of official teams have access to group health insurance . However, what if you are a marathon runner or triathlete who competes in events in your spare time? A minor league player making his way? Are you training for championships a lot of time, but you still do not have marks that place you in a high classification, that give you access to join a team and benefit from their group insurance? People who consider themselves athletes, but it is not their main occupation, must do their health insurance on their own. Younger people who are about to drop their parents’ insurance can also run into this problem.
The amateur competition sports federations have regulations for athletes who seek to compete at a national or international level: and that is that everyone must be insured . An ideal plan would be one that provides you with several options, due to the large number of trips you may have to do to train and compete: you have to make sure you have coverage everywhere. If the sport you play makes you more prone to injury, you may want to have individual health insurance and perhaps choose which of the two available to you to treat yourself. Having a health policy is always recommended, in addition to the one that the federation makes available to you with the payment of the fee.
Now, if you do not practice a sport at a professional level and you are not in a position to federate, your own health insurance is more than essential. We all have that friend of whom we say “he is a born athlete”, “he is a super athlete” and in reality, what he does is go to the gym every day or several a week, or go out for a run or ride a bike, but he works in an office, for example. That is, those who dedicate their free time to sports to disconnect from work, to take care of their health or simply because they like it.
Check the coverage
To begin with, you have to know that there are times when certain activities are not covered in some policies . Certain sports are included in these activities, especially those of risk. So you have to make sure that your insurance has powerful coverage, covering everything from urgent care to hospitalization or surgery if you end up with a complicated injury. If an injury of these characteristics does not allow you to go to work for a while, you can assess that your policy includes that eventuality.
What is interesting for these types of people, the “non-professional athletes”, is that their health insurance offers coverage in specialties that can help them a lot in the practice of what they like the most. If you run, swim, play soccer or basketball, your insurance will cover most of the injuries you may encounter . A medical examination is vital, if you have decided that you are going to start practicing it now; If you are one of the lucky ones who do not suffer frequent injuries, getting an annual check-up is also very advisable, because they will be able to assess and compare how your body and health evolve since you started playing sports until today.
Interesting specialties in your health insurance
We have already spoken on many occasions that health insurance sometimes prevents us from waiting to receive the medical attention we want. And if we talk about certain specialties that sometimes urge us to attend to some injuries, speed is of interest. The sports medicine becoming a specialty increasingly demanded by policyholders, although there is always an alternative to other specialists, if not specifically listed in your policy.
The podiatry is one of the most sought by those who make the running their hobby. Having a footprint study done is very important to define what type of steps you take and how you take them, whether prone or supine when walking, and all these data will help you buy the shoes that suit you best and that you they will help avoid injury from wearing improper footwear.
The physical therapy is another specialty that applied as a treatment for post injury or rehabilitation is essential for any athlete. Getting used to going to the physiotherapist’s office on a frequent basis is also highly advisable to help prevent injuries. You can define how often to go, establishing the routine that you see that helps you the most for the practice of sport.
And nutrition is another one that is gaining more weight among the medical specialties sought by sports lovers. Controlling what you eat, how and when you eat it, the caloric and nutritional intake of food, greatly influence the circumstances in which your body will tolerate exercise and at higher levels, it will even benefit and enhance your conditions and abilities.
In addition, there are companies that already offer you applications where you can monitor your diet nutritionally, applying it to the specific sport you practice.
So, if you are an athlete, do not forget to take care of yourself: you already know that ” mens sana in corpore sana ”
