What is importance of health insurance in your life ? For middle to high class society, health insurance is important, because they have enough income to fulfill their daily life and still have extra money to spend. The extra money can be used to pay insurance on monthly basis. They do not worry about cost for health treatment any more, because insurance company will pay if they are sick.
For those who work in good company, health insurance is paid by the company. The payment method could be different. My company will pay directly to hospital where i undergo health treatment, some others requires you to pay first, then the company will return the same amount to you in next salary period.
The competition among health insurance provider is tight, especially in big city. In order to get customers, they offer not only health insurance, but also infestation. I mean, from what pay monthly to insurance, we will get money back plus benefit after certain period. Example, we pay $50 monthly for insurance. Our health treatment will be covered plus we can withdraw our money after ten years, with amount $50 x 12 x 10 + profit share = $6000 + profit share. The profit share could be $3000, or $4000. It could be higher or lower, depends on company performance.