Health insurance is a system by which a group of people pool their risk of medical expenses by paying a certain amount of money (a premium) on a regular basis in return for the assurance that the insurance company or fund will cover some or all of the costs of medical treatment, should they need it. There are many different types of health insurance, and not all countries have a private health insurance industry, as some provide healthcare on a national basis (every citizen is enrolled in a system that is funded by tax dollars). In the United States, there is no national system of either healthcare or health insurance. Healthcare is provided by a number of independent providers (some of which have voluntarily joined ...