India has a medical inflation of 14%, which is the highest rate of medical inflation in Asia. Events like accidents, emergency hospitalisation, and critical illness can lead to significant financial expenses that can put a dent in your savings.
When you get health insurance coverage, you don't need to pay for these expenses from your pocket, up to the sum assured by your plan. However, you must ensure that you are getting sufficient coverage and optimum financial protection from health insurance policies.
Key Highlights
Health insurance provides financial protection during medical emergencies, accidents, hospitalisation, and medical treatments. However, you must ensure that you are getting optimum protection with health insurance.
Get an insurance plan when you are young, to enjoy a lower premium. Also, you must ensure that your plan has a sufficient sum assured considering the medical inflation.
Your plan should provide comprehensive coverage. If your plan excludes important risks, you can purchase add-on covers. You can also get a top-up insurance plan if your sum assured is lower.
Prefer a plan that provides cashless claim benefits and critical illness coverage.
Get an independent insurance policy instead of solely relying on the health insurance plan provided by your employer.
Top Tips to Get Optimum Financial Protection with Health Insurance Policies
Follow these tips to get sufficient coverage for your health insurance policies.
1. Buy an Insurance Policy When You are Young
Some youngsters do not buy health insurance because they believe they do not need it. However, it is advised to have a financial cushion from risks like accidents, which can happen at any age.
When you are young, insurance companies perceive you as a less-risky customer, because you are less likely to make a claim. You can get insurance policies with a significant sum assured at a lower cost when you are young.
2. Get a Plan With Sufficient Sum Assured
The sum assured of your plan should be aligned with the current medical costs and the ongoing medical inflation. If your sum assured is not enough, you will have to spend money during medical emergencies despite having medical insurance.
3. Compare Health Insurance Plans Offered by a Variety of Companies
To get the optimum financial protection from
health insurance, do not settle for the first insurance plan that comes your way. Ensure you do your research and select the right insurance plan. Here are some factors that you must consider while comparing insurance plans.
4. Select a Plan Providing Comprehensive Coverage
Each health insurance policy has its inclusions and exclusions. Ensure that your policy has extensive coverage. The level of financial protection provided by health insurance policies depends on the coverage. Here are some key inclusions that you must look for while choosing insurance plans.
Pre and post-hospitalisation care
Surgeon's fees
Outpatient treatments
Preventive treatments like vaccination, diagnostic tests, screenings, and routine check-ups.
Alternative treatments like Homeopathy, Ayurveda, Siddha, and Unani.
5. Consider Getting a Family Floater Plan
Get a Family Floater Policy to get health insurance benefits for the whole family under one plan. With this plan, you can cover your parents, spouse, and dependent children under a single plan.
6. Get Add-on Cover to Increase Your Health Insurance Coverage
Add-on covers allow you to extend the coverage of your insurance plan by paying a small additional premium. Add-ons are purchased to cover the risks that your insurance plan excludes. For example, women can choose to add Maternity coverage to their health insurance plan.
7. Don't Rely on the Insurance Plan Provided by Your Employer
Salaried individuals often skip getting health insurance because their employer provides them with one. However, the insurance coverage provided by your company may not be sufficient. You may need a more extensive coverage or a higher sum assured based on your needs. Check the details of your employer-provided insurance policy and consider getting an independent policy to get a sense of safety with health insurance.
8. Cover Critical Illnesses
Critical illnesses include heart issues, kidney failure, cancer, and other similar diseases. These illnesses lead to expensive medical treatment and the risk of potential financial losses can be reduced with an insurance cover.
9. Get a Top-up Insurance Plan
Under a top-up insurance plan, your sum assured gets replenished up to a certain amount after you exhaust your existing limit. For example, consider that your insurance policy has a sum assured of ₹5 lakh with a top-up plan of ₹10 lakh. If you lodge a claim for ₹7 lakh, the company will pay ₹5 lakh from your base plan and ₹2 lakh from the top-up plan. This way, you can get health insurance policies with a low sum assured.
10. Choose a Plan Providing Cashless Claim Settlements
If your insurance plan offers cashless claim benefits, your medical bills would be settled between the insurance company and the hospital. You will not need to pay anything in cash. This benefit is available for treatments in insurer's network hospitals.
Safeguard Yourself from the Rising Medical Costs with Health Insurance
Health insurance can reduce the burden of sudden medical expenses due to emergencies. It is a great way to get financial protection against medical inflation in India. However, having a health insurance policy is not enough. You must ensure that you have adequate coverage, a sufficient sum assured, and other important features like top-up benefits.