Understanding health insurance policies in India…

Most people buy health insurance policies only to avail tax benefits available under Section 80D of the income tax act. But taking a health policy just for tax benefits is a wrong approach. The purchase of your policy should be done on need analysis. In today's time of growing uncertainties, you may never know anyone can fall ill at any point of time. Besides, hereditary disease, unexpected accidents, or other form of medical emergencies don't come with a warning. If the problem is serious an individual will have to be admitted to hospital for medical treatments. The costly medical treatment, high hospital bills, doctor fees, etc. will surely hit back upon your finances.  It is through that an individual should purchase a health insurance policy to keep their finances intact during medical emergencies.

Purchasing Health insurance policies depend on various factors like number of family members, their age, medical history, etc. Once the insurance needs are assessed, the next concern would obviously be the amount of insurance cover you require.

Indian markets offer varied kinds of health insurances such as individual plans, family floaters, senior citizen policies, women-oriented policies, critical illness policies, top-up medical plans, etc. with varied features and customized solutions on your insurance cover. Often, it becomes a tedious task to do a comprehensive research manually for choosing the best health plan. Relax! Your task has become easier due to the online resources. You can obtain quotes for health insurance online, compare different health insurance policies and purchase it online. You have the choice to tailor the online health insurance product suitable to your requirements and most importantly fit into your budget. Comparison helps you to ensure you're getting the right cover for your individual or family needs at affordable price.

Online health insurance policies not only cover you against unexpected health emergencies but give you an assurance that your health is taken care of in the best possible way.  It can easily give access to the medical experts to take the necessary care of a critical illness, accident or other form of critical treatment. You don't have to struggle in those lengthy queues of doctor appointment, bed allocation and finally the treatments. Right from admission to doctor fees, ambulance charges to medical costs everything can be covered under your health insurance policy. In addition to this depending on the plan you opt for, your online health insurance plan can also cover permanent disability, long-term or custodial care needs.

No Claim Bonus is one of the best features offered by medical insurance companies which help you get policy cheaper during renewals. These are accumulated bonus for not claiming a policy during a year's time, which can be later redeemed for discounts on premiums. Before buying health insurance policies, it's important to read the fine print, terms & conditions carefully so that you don't get disappointed later. Also, check which hospitals in your neighborhood are on the list of cashless hospitalization facilities as per your insurer? It will prove helpful at the time of emergency treatment.

Health insurance policies are after all, a commitment between the purchasing party and the company. So, just signing and sitting back won't be sufficient. Understand that once you sign the form means you declare that you'll abide the rules and agreed with all the clauses. So, it becomes very important that you read the documents calmly and carefully. Your information and declaration are the basis on which the insurance companies will customize your health insurance policies, evaluate risks and estimate the premium to insure that risk. At the time of claims, insurance companies in India check the authenticity of these declarations.

Is your health covered with proper medical care policy?

Insurance concept is pretty straightforward. Individual’s purchases service from the insurance company while paying upon premium that mitigates their risks during any unfortunate incidence of life. It’s about getting a financial security fence around your family during health crisis like major accident, critical illness, pre-existing diseases, hereditary disorders etc. For this individual has to take health care insurance policy that will handle these circumstances.  Health covers pays for all or part of a person’s health care bills. There are various types of health care insurance plans available in the markets like individual plans, family floaters, women oriented plans, senior citizen plans, group health plans etc. It is available to groups as well as individuals.

Whenever there is a medical emergency, it becomes hard to make arrangements of money on such a short notice. Therefore, you purchase cover that safeguard people from such critical conditions. It gets easy for the policyholder to cope up with the expenses incurred. Besides this, the policy entitles the individual to various other insurance benefits.

While there are hundreds of insurers in the market selling out thousands of health policies the major question is which is the best health policy that suits your needs? Even though the awareness programs are on rise, a reluctant approach is adopted when buying medical insurance policies. The reluctance is developed due to the lack of knowledge about the possibilities of some good health plan offered in India. Besides, there is limited knowledge about the factors which should be considered when buying medical insurances and successful filing of a mediclaim.  Talking to medical experts, friends or family members, comparing online, visiting branches are few of the ways that will drive the phobia out of your minds.

Today many health insurance companies are continuously working hard and striving to offer customized health covers that will not only fit into your budget but also cater to your specific health requirements. Lot of Innovative health care solutions are continuously emerging in the market as conscious efforts of insurance companies. They are designed keeping in mind the changing market condition and human needs. Medical costs are escalating regularly and have been the major cause for degradation in the standards of quality health care services.

Health policies not only cover your financial aspects during health crisis but it also helps you to avail the impressive tax benefits in India. At times people can opt to choose the best health insurance with the motive of saving tax. Health insurance plans offer tax benefits to individuals. Insurance premium up to Rs 20,000 for senior citizens and Rs 15,000 for others is eligible for tax benefit, thus proving to be an efficient tax saving investment. But comprehensive medical insurance plan offers them maximum benefits at minimum premium payment thereby offering the longetivity to the lives of them and their loved ones.

 Health is an important asset in our life and good health means loads of fun, hardwork, earning money and getting a well settled life. Taking it into account, owning a suitable health plan has become the need of the hour now. Therefore, everyone should go for buying quality health care insurance plan that will take care of their medical emergencies. Beyond this it will keep you mentally and emotional intact to recover well and cope up with the situation. 

How Medical Cover plays a crucial role in life?

Life is happy if everything you desire seems to fall in place. You have a good job or business, a house in the heart of the city, cars for traveling, a fair amount of bank balance, and more. But you may never know when you might grapple with fever or critical illness; else meet a fatal accident due to which you may have to rush to the hospitals.  The long list of a bill including medicinal & surgical costs, admission fees, ambulance costs, etc. at times may erode most of your financial savings leaving you into a state of shock. For a moment you will be traumatized. But owning a good medical insurance plan will help you stabilize your financial requirement and recover well without any worries.

Health insurance is protection plan against medical emergencies. Several types of medical insurance such as individual plans, family floaters, women-oriented, senior citizens plans, etc are available in the markets. You can purchase suitable plan based on your individual needs, family’s medical requirement, income source, risk appetite, hereditary disorders, nature of work, place of living and more.

Medical insurance plans are designed in such a way that it will suit your expenses and are easy to purchase. These insurance plans will protect you from high doctor bills along with medical & operational costs. There are many health insurance plans provided by various insurance companies to suit your premium and your need.

Top-Up facilities 

Medical plans come with additional top-up facilities. They have a similar role in a health plan. They are used to provide additional cover to your health insurance plan after you exhaust the sum insured limit.

Rider Benefits

A rider is an additional benefit that can be incorporated in your basic health insurance plan. It helps to give extra care to you and your family at a lower cost. Room rent waiver, Maternity cover, Hospital Cash, Critical Illness, Personal Accident cover are some of the riders that insurance companies offer to customers.

Benefits of Medical Insurance

Getting a medical cover is a smart move in today’s growing uncertainties where lifestyle induced diseases is on the rise. Sedentary work, poor eating habits, long working hours, highly competitive environment, living in far-flung cities, work stress and other factors often takes a tool on people health right from the younger age. So whether a single or family person with dependents, owning a medical plan proves beneficial to curb on the financial expenditure. 

Health insurance plans help to get discounted rates for hospitalization services as insurance companies know well how to negotiate rates with doctors and hospitals. Thus, a coverage person is always charged lesser compared to the ones with no coverage at all.  At the time of policy purchase, every insurance company clearly defines their waiting period for the pre-existing condition after which you can be eligible for taking the insurance claim. So if have a continuous coverage prior to getting the new plan you get complete details about the waiting period.

For people who are financially not so sound, it is advisable at least take a basic health insurance plan that will help you bridge the gap in medical expenses demands and your financial shortages. Medical insurance plan is the best companion for us in modern days that will help you minimize the hassles in our lives and enjoy it to the fullest with minimum worries.

Various types of health insurance plans

Considering the rising expenses of medical treatment, medicines and remedies, health insurance has become a vital thing. To buy an insurance, firstly, you will have to get an idea of the various types of health insurance plans available in the Indian market in order to get your hands on the best policy to suit your requirements and protect your family.These insurance plans not just take care of your family needs, but also help you in tax saving investments up to the limit of Rs 1500 and additional limit of 20,000 under section 80 D when getting an insurance policy for your parents (senior citizens).

Questions to Ask Before Buying Health Insurance Policies

Do You Have The Right Health Insurance Cover

Opt for suitable health insurance plan, now!

Cost of medical treatment is on the rise at a double digit pace of growth, outpacing the inflation both in rural and urban India. Medical treatments can cause a big hole in your pocket if you’re not backed up with sufficient health insurance cover. Although, people eat right, exercise well, don’t smoke, stay fit and healthy but medical emergencies don’t come knocking at your door. If you don’t have sufficient financial back up in the form of health cover you can destabilize your finances and future goals. 

Thus, owning suitable health insurance plan makes sense in this world of uncertainties. Health insurance policies were evolved over time to cater to the specific health emergency needs of consumers. There are around 25 General insurance companies marketing hundred so of customized medical insurance products for consumer across India. You can visit the branch, call up agents or customer service, or compare policies online and buy a suitable health insurance plan that will cater you and your family needs during medical emergencies. 

Here is a quick guide to help you choose the most suitable health insurance plan as per your requirements and most importantly that fits into your budget:

Don’t wait to get sick:

There are no perfect moments for purchasing policies. Most people who after falling sick seriously realize the importance of health insurance policy. It is better to get yourself acquainted with the importance of insurance policy and buy a policy in advance. There are basically two types of polices: indemnity plan which cover hospitalization costs and the other is benefit policy which offers a lump-sum amount to the insured upon his or her treatment. Every policy might differ in some way or the other, but these are two main aspects under which policies operate.

Individual or Family Cover

If you’re sole breadwinner of the family then you must think of getting your entire family insured with suitable family health plan. A family health plan can cover your kids, spouse, parents, or siblings, etc. under single umbrella while individual cover will cater individual health needs. It is advisable if your parents are old and suffering from any form of disease you can put them on separate individual health plan.

Decide the cover amount

While buying a policy, the most crucial thing is amount of cover you should take to offer financial blanket to your family. Most people are mistaken as they take policy on the basis of current healthcare costs. Remember a health insurance plan covers you for lifetime; therefore you should take an amount that sufficiently cover you within span of 15 -20 years. Also, bear in mind the inflation costs so that you don’t fall short of the policy.

 You must also take into account your lifestyle and choose the best health insurance policy that suits it. If you are leading a healthy lifestyle, you might be at a lesser risk to fall prey to diseases but if not then you must prepare for the unexpected

Room Rent Capping

Room rent capping makes you eligible to claim expenses of a room rent only if it falls under this capping. Room rent capping may be defined as 1% of the sum insured or Rs 5000 (whichever is lower). It is advisable always compare the room rent capping and opt for a high room rent as the prices may increase due to inflation and also because you might not be left with any option but to avail a high-price room.

Hospital

Hospital network refers to the list of empanelled hospitals that have an agreement with the insurance company to provide “cashless treatments” to policy holders. Insurance company usually pays the hospital directly. Check for health insurance plan from your area or any other hospitals on the network list and also near to your place of living whose service you might avail in future. 

Abroad Treatment

Check if your policy offer covers for treatments abroad. Some policies cover cost at facilities abroad for selective disease.  It covers illnesses for which you can seek treatment in a foreign land.