We all know the proverb “Health is wealth”. While we try to keep self and our family healthy, we cannot rule out any eventuality. With increased change in life style, pandemic across the world, uncertainties are spread all across, anything can happen to anybody. If we do not have health insurance, years of savings can be wiped out in case of any major health issues. Now a day even minor medication and diagnosis cost a lot of money.
While Health Insurance buying is necessary and part of prudent financial planning, buying the right insurance is equally important. There are many factors that will decide which health insurance plan provides the best of all that you are looking at. Insurance companies look at various things while designing their products, such as age of the proposer – family size – nature of job – gender – lifestyle – health history etc. There are Health Insurances which are categorized to meet specific segments such as Senior Citizen Health Policies, Family Floater Health Cover, Critical Illness Cover, Individual Health plans and Group Health Insurance Cover.
Now it looks too complicated, is not it ! Hang on, these are few tips what you must look at before deciding on your Health Insurance Plan.
- Now a day, all health insurance companies provide their benefits/ illustrations online. All insurance aggregator websites also provide comparison between top policies once you enter your basic requirements on their portal. Go for the comparison and see which one offers the best value proposition.
- Do not just look at the cheapest policy. Look for other aspects of your proposed health insurance cover.
- See if the insurance company has presence across nation or not. Check what hospital network tie-ups they have. Check what kind of hospital network they have, are the hospitals good enough, do you visit such hospital or comfortable visiting such hospitals in future. Also check what kind of doctor tie-ups they have. Checking network across the nation is vital as you may need coverage at any location which will help you in case you/your family need service while travelling.
- Check what maximum coverage the proposed health insurance is providing if you are taking a single cover or for your family cover. Select policy that provides maximum cover. Select policy that provides wide range of health related coverages.
- Family floater health insurance policy is better than buying individual cover health insurance policies as the total sum assured can be used for one individual if required.
- Select policy that provides higher limit of room rent, ICU charges, and ambulance services. If you get pre & post hospitalization cover, those you must prefer.
- Check what is not covered. Check for coverage of pre-existing diseases, are they covered from day one or there are waiting periods. Check if there are any co-pay applicable, read the co-pay terms carefully in detail and buy if it suits you.
- Health plan will be needed once our age keeps growing. So, check till what age the health insurance provides cover. Go for maximum time period cover which may be till 60 years or 65 years or in some cases till lifetime. Check the renewal terms and conditions if any.
- Claim settlement ratio of the insurance company is an important aspect. It shows, whether the company pays/settles claims or not. High claim settlement ratio indicates the credibility in settling claims of the customers. Select insurance companies who have high claim settlement ratio.
- Finally the last point is on pricing of premium. India is a price sensitive market and most customers look at what is available at less cost. Look at what premium you are paying for what amount of cover and the other aspects discussed above.
Do not just look at the premium to be paid, evaluate your Health Insurance cover holistically.