With working professionals having to combat lifestyle disorders, stress and high medical costs, a health insurance plan can be a welcome source of financial support in times of need. The importance of investing in health insurance plans is not limited to its monetary benefits, but also its customisable perks and facilities which has made it more accessible today.
Health Insurance plans are important as they can aid a policyholder support high hospitalization costs, ambulance transit fees, including pre and post-op care. If the insured policyholder is incapacitated by an accident they can avail a sum assured and it can support them and their dependents as an income replacement.
A health insurance plan is an insurance instrument that covers the medical expenditure incurred during hospitalization, and costs incurred after the patient is discharged as well. It is a standard policy is structured and offered in many policy types by insurance providers according to age groups and family needs. One may choose the best health insurance policy from a range of plans offered by providers such as an individual health plan, a family plan, senior citizen coverage and even critical illness health insurance plans and more.
Let us look at the factors to understand what is health insurance and help you make an informed decision:
1. Renewal Age: Renewal age is the stated age when a policyholder will be able to renew their policy. Insurance investments are usually done to protect oneself from financial distress caused by medical expenses, hence it one should purchase health insurance plans that last well into and beyond retirement and old age the tendency to recurring hospital visits and ailments increases with age. One should keep their policies updated and renewed so as to avoid any distress caused by sudden illness or accidents.
2. Network Hospitals: Many insurance providers at the time of creating health insurance plans, add a list of partner hospitals where their policyholders are guaranteed to receive prompt claim settlements or Cashless facilities. Availing treatment and coverage at a partner hospital is one of the important things a prospective policyholder has to take into consideration while investing; as they may have designated doctors or treatments they may want access in the course of treatment.
3. Wide Coverage: The reimbursements that are processed to the policyholder by the insurance providers has to be adequate to cover the expensive procedures along with post-care for the policyholder. Hence one should go for the best health insurance policy which has a minimum 10 lac sum assured since medical costs have inflation margins that increase exponentially.
Before selecting health insurance plans one should determine the scope of coverage they may require in the long term. The policy which usually have coverage benefits such as covering hospitalization, critical illness and maternity and more can have certain capping and coverage exceptions which should be carefully looked while investing.
4. Pre-Existing Diseases: In the situation a policyholder has a pre-existing disease, the health insurance plans may not provide coverage from the moment the plan tenure commences. There may a waiting period of a few years before they are liable to raising a claim, therefore one should look through the policy literature and make sure their illness is covered from the moment the tenure begins.
5. Waiting Period: The time period one has to wait before lodging a claim with the insurance provider is called waiting period. These vary from provider to provider. For example,
There are two waiting periods under a critical illness policy. The first waiting period under a health insurance plan is that the insured can make a claim request after 90 days have elapsed from the date of purchase of the critical illness insurance. The second waiting period entails that after the insured person is diagnosed with a critical illness they need to survive for a period of 30 days in order to make claim request.
6. Room Sub-Limits: Some health insurance plans state that a percentage of room rent incurred during the course of hospitalization may have to be borne by the policyholder. Hence prior to buying a health insurance plans one should check the sub-limits the insurer may have stipulated in terms of room costs and ICU charges. One should go for the best health insurance policy which has minimal or no sub-limits within its coverage terms.
7. Exclusions: Most health insurance plans may refuse to cover medical expenses of a policyholder who suffers from a chronic illness, hence one should be well versed with the conditions of a health insurance plan before purchasing. Certain ailments and procedures may not be eligible for coverage under a health insurance plan.
The process of choosing health insurance plans can be streamlined by duly researching the insurance solutions available to invest in and putting a thorough check with all term, conditions, and exclusions that an insurance plan may have and compare those with their needs.
Author Bio:
Vinod Gill is a writer who specializes in writing content on Insurance and Finance subjects. He is a Digital Marketing Consultant, Blogger, and Co-Founder of Journalreporter
This is a Partnered article.