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Health Insurance

Understanding Health Insurance myth.

by primadmin May 4, 2022

written by primadmin

Thanks to COVID pandemic which has done great damage worldwide to people’s life, economy but mean time created so much panic that everyone understood the importance of Health Insurance.

Now the most sort after insurance product after term plan would probably be the health insurance plan. However, people still have a lot of ambiguity around it. We discussed in previous articles about coverage of pre-existing diseases.

While talking about opting for new health insurance plan, many people think will it cover heart attack and blood pressure or not as these are now common among Indian population. Will it provide cover for these two cases or not ? Let’s understand these today.

When you are opting for new health insurance and if you do not smoke, do not drink, do not have obesity problem, no cholesterol issue and no blood pressure issue them your insurance company will give you cover for heart attack easily. This cover will normally start after 30 days from policy issuance date. Healthy persons are preferred for insurance coverage as chances of claim are less.

In case you have any of the above mentioned pre-existing health issues at the time of taking the policy, then your insurance company will have a waiting period of 3-4 years to provide you the health attack coverage. You must disclose any pre-existing disease and should not hide in fear of policy rejection or higher premium.

It’s also possible for someone to get all/few such health issues after sometime from taking the policy or if you have taken a policy much before. In all such cases, your health insurance company will provide coverage for health attack after a waiting period of 2 years. Therefore, it’s always better to continue with your old health insurance plan while you may seek additional cover from new insurers.

However, remember in any insurance non-disclosure or hiding facts may lead to complications in future.

May 4, 2022 0 comment 347 views

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Declaring your pre-existing diseases while taking Health Insurance.

by primadmin April 29, 2022

written by primadmin

Planning to buy Health Insurance for self and family is a great decision. It shows that you are smart and committed towards your family. Taking Health Insurance is also considered as future financial planning as you are avoiding unforeseen cost which may come in future due to exigencies and the cost can be large enough.

However, many of us are confused whether to declare our pre-existing diseases or not. We think if we declare, we have to undergo medical tests prior to policy issuance. Some of us think our policy might get declined. Others think our premium will go drastically up. In all scenarios, we convince ourselves that “why to declare all these”, let’s ignore/ hide our pre-existing diseases. Nothing will happen and no one will come to know if we hide all such things is our general perception.

Few insurance advisors also mislead and guide customers not to declare pre-existing diseases to sell policies at low premium to their customers.

In all these scenarios, if a claim comes in future and gets declined, we blame the insurance company or the policy. But the main culprit is our decision to hide such facts.

If you have diabetes or blood pressure or any existing disease, you can still take health insurance and also take pre-existing diseases cover. The pre-existing diseases can be covered either after one year or after two years or after three years. It is you who have to decide when you want to start the coverage of pre-existing diseases. In case you want to cover it immediately or after a year, your premium will definitely go up but your risk coverage will be taken care and chances of claim rejection will be minimal.

In short, you are taking health insurance for those rainy days. So be doubly sure that you have all coverage in place and minimal chance of claim rejection by covering your pre-existing diseases.

April 29, 2022 0 comment 288 views

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Understanding Top-Up & Super Top-Up of Health Insurance Plan.

by primadmin March 27, 2022

written by primadmin

Buying health insurance is no child play. There are so many companies, so many plans and so many options. What to select and what not is totally confusing. Today let’s understand two important aspects of all health insurance policies. We normally use terminologies Top-up and Super Top-up. But many of us do not understand what they really mean.

Basic Health Insurance Plan – If you have a basic/ regular health insurance plan, it will have a fixed annual cover. For example, you have a plan which provides cover of Rs. 5 Lakh. In case of any requirement the insurance company will pay up to 5 lakhs. But if your medication is of 7 lakhs then the additional amount of 2 lakh have to be paid by you.

Top up plan – this is additional cover that you take over and above your basic health plan. You can take it from same or other insurance companies. When you take a top-up plan, insurance companies will have deductible. Deductible is the amount that will be deducted from you first which the top-up claim is paid. Let’s understand by an example. You have a basic health plan of 5 lakh and top-up plan of 10 lakh where deductible is 2 lakhs. Now imagine you have a claim of 11 lakh for hospitalisation due to some surgery. Then from your regular plan first 5 lakh will be paid, you have to pay 2 lakhs from your pocket as deductible and then your top-up plan will pay remaining 4 lakhs. Deductible is there in top-up so as to avoid false claims, if you do not pay deductible then insurance company will not pay too-up claim.

Top-up will ask for deductible every time you have a claim.

Super Top-up plan – super top-up works similar to top-up except that, in case of super top-up you pay the deductible only one time in a year. For repeated claims within same year you do not have to pay deductible.

Super top-up and Top-up plans help when you know someone has past record of health issues and might need hospitalisation frequently in future. Better if you opt for these for family members aged 50 years or more.

March 27, 2022 0 comment 164 views

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Things to check while buying Health Insurance Policy.

by primadmin March 22, 2022

written by primadmin

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.

March 22, 2022 0 comment 194 views