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We present you a helpful guide answering queries that people usually face while selecting a health insurance policy:
Do I need to buy a health insurance plan at an early age?
Yes, buying a health insurance plan when you are young comes with a lot of benefits, like:
With our sedentary lifestyle, poor food habits and degrading environmental conditions, the rate of life threatening diseases is increasing at an alarming rate. This requires us to be on our guards even at a young age.
Being young, single and carefree often fools us into thinking that our corporate insurance is enough. It is important to understand that our companies offer a minimal health cover, which is likely to leave us under insured. Besides that, this cover will terminate when you leave the company. In such a scenario, having a personal health plan not only provides enough protection but can also be customized according to our changing needs.
You can avail tax exemptions under Section 80D of the Insurance Act.
What are the things I should consider before buying my health insurance policy?
First and foremost, pick a general insurance provider over a life insurance company, as the latter focuses more on providing benefits to your family after your demise than your medical expenditure.
Other important things/health insurance tips to consider here include :
- The type of health insurance plan
- Features of your health plan, in accordance with your speculated future health needs
- A sum insured that takes inflation under consideration, suits your budget and does not leave you under-insured.
- The network-hospitals of your insurance provider
- Customer reviews about the company/policy
What are the factors that can hike my policy premium?
The following factors can increase your premium cost :
- A higher Basal Metabolic Rate (BMI), which raises your risk of lifestyle diseases
- Age above 45–50
- Poor medical history
How to determine the amount of sum insured for my health policy?
An insurance policy aims to benefit us in the long run, catering to our future needs. Hence, it is significant to take the rising medical costs in to account while selecting the sum insured (i.e. the maximum amount that you are covered for in one policy year). Otherwise, you will be required to pay the difference at the time of need.
Should I buy an individual policy or a family-floater?
An individual policy works best if you don’t have any dependants. However, individual policies for all family members is not only more expensive but also a tedious job, as it requires you to maintain several different policies.
Family floater makes for an economical and convenient option in such a case, where you want to cover your spouse and kids. Some insurance providers offer covers for parents, parents-in-law and siblings. A family floater provides a large cover to be shared between all the members listed in the insurance, which means additional allowance for any one of you in case of illness. But, this might not be very profitable if you include members aged above 50, in your combined plan. This is because senior members are susceptible to frequent claims, which could deny any allowance for the other members in the plan. Hence, it is advisable to cover them in a separate individual policy.