Has it ever crossed your mind that if a health insurance plan is supposed to protect you against untoward health-based concerns, why do insurers end up offering rebates and discounts on premium rates, so you get health insurance at low price? As much as this sounds like a counterintuitive approach, it is a strategic decision on their part.
Insurers value your good health. Health insurance offers rewards to you if they find that you have been keeping well and taking good care of your health. Essentially, it all comes down to the fact that the insurer may have to fulfill your claims in case of a health emergency. If you do not push for insurance-specific privileges, then the service provider is expected to offer you a discount during policy renewal.
Suppose you are 27 and have purchased a Health Insurance policy. Now, if you do not raise claims even after paying premium for the first year, you will be identified as a healthy individual by the insurer.
Not claiming any health benefit means that you are already leading a conditioned life, something even your insurance provider would want to lower the claims from your side. While this usually falls under the category of the no-claim bonus and gives you a sizable discount upon policy renewal, you can also follow a set plan to acquire diverse wellness benefits.
Wellness benefits that health insurance offers ensure that you get a decent discount on the next policy renewal if the insurer finds you to be healthier than ever. Starting from getting checked using a Body Mass Index Calculator or enrolling in a Yoga center or gym, there are many strategies to procure wellness benefits from the insurers.
If you make an effort to stay healthy, most insurance providers would acknowledge the same and offer redeemable wellness points. Mostly, these points can be used to get a premium rebate all through the subsequent policy renewals.
The insurer has several strategies to track your lifestyle, physical state, and other indicative approaches that would determine your earnestness to stay in the pink of health. These include:
Many Insurers allow the integration of wellness apps onto their platform to monitor your daily activity levels. Many insurers give the option of downloading their app and linking it to the fitness device so they can monitor the physical activity of the policyholder. These devices can give the insurer a detailed health risk assessment and help understand all aspects of the policyholder’s health using data on time spent walking, sitting or other activity and a body mass index calculator.
A handful of insurers send across risk assessment questions that need to be responded to for procuring wellness points or discounts. These questions pertain to your health and lifestyle, and can be extremely useful for them to determine the health risks you may pose.
Top-shelf insurers allow you to pair their own application with the fitness device you are carrying to monitor distance travelled, sedentary hours, and even other aspects of your health via the built-in BMI calculator in India. Such detailed tracking gives the insurer a rounded view of the risks they may be taking by extending an insurance cover to a policyholder.
In addition to these health tracking mechanisms like BMI calculators in India and the subsequent wellness discounts, which can go as high as 100 percent of the premium value in certain cases, certain insurers also offer free annual checkups and other benefits like redeemable health care vouchers, and more.
Regardless of the approach and calculation of the wellness benefits, it all boils down to how healthy you stay even while paying premiums. Also, if you are confident about your state of perpetual well-being, it can be a great idea to choose an insurance aggregator to assess all your options and get health insurance at a low price that offers the maximum policy renewal discount or other relevant perks.
Mithilesh Singh is a writer who specialises in writing content on Insurance and Finance subjects. He is a Digital Marketing Consultant, Blogger, and Founder of Tech Preview.