Health insurance policies come with 100s of variations & are very complicated. Which conditions should you keep in mind before buying a health insurance policy?🤔🤔
We are here to sort out by making your confusion in a 1 word answer, here it is a comprehensive checklist of things you should check before buying a health insurance policy
Let understand what is a health insurance policy in 1 line.
In simple words, you pay a premium to an insurance company. The insurance company in return will cover the cost of any unforeseen hospitalization. Almost everyone should have personal health insurance.
Which health insurance policy to buy?
Health insurance policies come with 100s of variations in we should know what will be the important parameter should to be considered such as:-
Some have co-paySome have lower premiumSome have higher new claim bonusSome have caps on various things
So which one to buy?
1. No Room Rent Limit:- You should be mentally free to choose any room in the hospital while getting admitted.
Many policies limit the room rent/day to about, 1% of the Sum Insured or 2% of the Sum insured!
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2. Covers All daycare procedures-
Getting admit and discharge in Single day surgical process
A Day Care Procedure is a medical procedure or surgery that previously required a prolonged hospital stay but with advanced medical science, can now be completed within 24 hours.
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3. No Copay:-
Many policies require you to share the hospital bill in a certain proportion before the insurer pays the bill.
For eg a 20% co-pay will mean u will need to pay 20% of the bill and rest will be paid by the insurer
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4. No caps on treatment costs for specific conditions-
Some policies come with limits on how much cover will be provided based on specific diseases or treatments. For example, there might be a limit that says – a maximum 1 lakh cover for a particular surgery.
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5. Pre & Post-Hospitalization cover–
These are medical expenses incurred before you are admitted after discharge, it includes diagnostic tests, investigative procedures, follow-up tests, medication, and more.
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6. Restoration Benefit:-
Generally, a comprehensive policy will provide u with something known as a restoration Benefit.
With this benefit – your sum insured gets replenished, within the same year after you use it for a hospitalization.
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7. Life Long renewability:-
Unlike group policies which can be terminated at anytime or the terms and conditions can be changed
A comprehensive policy can be renewed for ur entire policy.
Once an insurer enters into the policy.
The policy conditions cannot be changed
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8. No Claim bonus:-
These policies provide something known as a No claim bonus.
In the years u don’t claim the Sum insured increases by 10-50%.
In the years u do claim the Sum assured falls by 10-50%.
However, the Sum insured will not fall below the original Sum insured
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9. Hospital network
Checking the network hospital for cashless claims is very very important.
The higher the cashless network less the work better the claims experience.
Therefore always check the network of hospitals
Which insurers offer these policies?
Most insurers offer these policies:-
Niva BupaHDFC ErgoICICI LombardStar Health
When should you buy this policy?
Buy it as young as possible.
As you grow older and older…..you may have a risk of contracting a disease.
Health insurers may not be too keen to offer this policy to you.
Conclusion:-
Buying a health insurance policy is a must.
Even though there are cheaper premium policies available, go for a comprehensive policy.
These policies will minimize the amount of money you may have to pay from your own pocket.
Buy these policies as young as possible.
As you grow older, you may find the insurer does not want to give these policies.
Buying these policies is like an investment for old age when you will really require health insurance.
Hercules Advisors
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