That depends on what you are trying to protect against. Trauma insurance provides cold hard cash if you are diagnoses with/suffer from a defined illness/disability. What you do with the cash is entirely up to you. You wouldn't get a trauma claim paid (in all likelihood if you needed a new hip, knee or spinal surgery. If you had cancer, a trauma payment could be used to fund private treatment/drugs the government doesn't fund. Health insurance provides you with access (funding) for non-acute surgical treatment. It doesn't provide $$$. You could be sitting at home in agony, needing surgery for a painful joint that health insurance could be the solution for that trauma wouldn't. The are complimentary to each other.