The medical treatment cost in India is increasing day by day and therefore, to protect one’s financial profile, it is necessary for people to have effective health insurance. Getting health insurance in this era is not a tough task as there are ample of service providers out there in the market who offer various plans, getting the right health insurance is much important and a tricky job. There are many small points that one needs to check and keep in mind while going for a health insurance plan.
Few vital tips that can help one get the right health insurance
- Don’t forget to have individual health insurance: Usually, those who work with a company get health insurance in a group of employees. Here one must note that even if he is covered by his employer, he needs to have Individual Health Insurance. This can help him to get protected even if the company does not have insurance or he has changed the job or left the company under any circumstances. Having Individual health insurance can help him stay safe and enjoy the benefits of the same while going for renewal.
- Get perfect sum assured: For health insurance and protection in case of a significant treatment, it is necessary for one to have the right sum assured. Here one should keep in mind that the sum assured has a direct relation with the premium and hence many times people prefer to have health insurance with low sum assured. If in any case, one needs to have an expensive treatment, he may be in trouble in such a situation when the sum assured is low. On the other side, it must not be more than required as the premium would be much higher. For this reason, one should maintain a balanced approach at this stage. If one is not sure about the amount to require for his sum assured it is better to ask an expert or consult the agent personally.
- Get health insurance at an early age: One at a young age may not have any health issue, and hence he can get a health insurance plan at a low cost at an early age. Later he gets benefits of renewal and no claim bonus which leads to having a low premium even if the age is more. Therefore, it is recommended to start health insurance at a young age.
- Check for lifetime renewability: People while buying health insurance, hardly pay attention to renewability. After the policy gets lapsed, and one ends up paying more premium when he goes to have another health insurance. To avoid such situation, it is better to check the renewability of the plan beforehand itself.
- Go for a plan with a top-up feature: Health insurance is to counter the expenses of medical treatment. In some cases, when one ends up making two claims in the same insurance policy period, the second claim might get declined due to lack of available sum assured. To avoid such a situation, one needs to have a plan where top-up is possible. In such plans, one can go for a higher sum assured with a limited payment to the service provider.
- Check for claim loading: It is an important point one needs to check before buying health insurance. There are service providers in the market who charge a loading amount in case of a claim. In some cases, the loading amount can be higher, which might affect the premium and benefits related to the insurance. So, while buying the policy, one must check this point first and avoid plans which have higher claim loading.
- Check the waiting period for the pre-existing disease coverage: Pre-existing disease are the ones a policyholder is already suffering from, and because of that, there can be other ailments also. Hence in the majority of the cases, the service providers do not cover the pre-existing diseases and also any other diseases that are the result of these pre-existing diseases. To cover these diseases, there are some terms and conditions which vary from one service provider to the other. Some service provider cover them after 90 days while some others cover them after 2 years also. If one is already suffering from any such disease, he should check this clause first and get the plan that can help him to cover these diseases at the earliest.
- Check for sublimit: The sub-limit of a plan is also an essential element where one may have opted for the floater policy. In floater policies, each of the family members have a certain sum assured, and it is usually same for all. For example, if a plan has a sum assured of 10 lakhs, and there are four members, the sum assured can be said as 250,000 to each member. Now in case, one member needs a treatment which cost 500,000 than the sum assured can be adequately provided. If there is a sub-limit of 250,000, the rest 250,000 of the treatment has to be borne by the client in this situation. Hence one needs to avoid the plans with any sub-limit and go for the total sum assured only.
Adding to these points, one also needs to see that if his hospital is in network list or not else, he may not get the benefit of a cashless claim or he has to get treatment from a different hospital than usually from where he gets the treatment.
