Before Buying Health Insurance in India, Follow This Checklist

One of the wisest decisions that you have taken is to buy a health insurance policy for you and your family members. Now the next wise thing to do is take care of certain factors before you zero down on the right plan that brings maximum benefits to you when you need them the most. Health insurance plans are unlike buying an airline ticket where only the price matters. There are a lot of features to look into before you make the crucial decision.

Checklist for Buying Health Insurance in India

Listed here, are some of the most important points to be taken into consideration:

1) The Right Amount

There is no fixed amount as everyone’s needs and priorities are different. However, the basic idea is to be aware of medical costs in the city you’re living in and in general. It is imperative to cover hospitalization expenses as well as expenses to cover critical illnesses, surgeries, and adequate medical treatment in and out of the hospital. Accordingly, a health cover should be bought.

What is your need as a human being, you should know that only then you will work hard for it. In the same way, you should know how much amount of cover you need, only then you will apply health policy for that sum assured. Generally, a person has to have a high sum assured because if the cost of treatment will be there and it will be saved, then there is no problem, maybe we will claim it next time for the left amount.

2) Cashless Health Cover

This is one of the most important aspects to consider when buying health insurance in India. Not everyone has access to instant cash all of the time. At the time of medical emergencies, the cashless medical cover helps to get treatment started while you can arrange finances at your own convenience.

With the increasing time, there are some such facilities that are necessary to be available with everyone and cashless health cover option is also among them. Let us understand this thing with an example, someone in your family has had an accident and at this time the first requirement is that the injured person should be admitted to the hospital but on going to the hospital you have to deposit money only then the treatment process will proceed and your cash There is no money but insurance and under that insurance, you have the option of cashless hospitalization. With the help of this facility, the injured person gets treatment at the proper time.

3) Age Criteria

We need medical care the most in our old age. Therefore, select the policies that not only cover you for the golden years of life but also give you an option of lifetime renewability and not restricted renewability.

Age criteria play an important role, everything has restrictions and with an insurance policy the age limit is to protect the insurance company from risk, there is no doubt that the elderly have to take care of the most medical care.

4) Sub Limits

Sub-limits are a clause set by the insurance provider wherein there is a limit fixed to medical expenses in the hospital like the room rate, cost of surgery, etc. Any expense over sub-limit will have to be borne by you. So be careful and select health insurance plans with adequate sub-limits.

5) Waiting Periods and Exclusions

The waiting period normally averages between a few months to a couple of years, depending on the company to company. Select the company that offers the least waiting periods so that you can have access to the benefits of the policy as soon as possible. Also, don’t select an insurance provider that has too many diseases excluded from their coverage plans.

6) Pre-existing Diseases and Critical Illness Cover

Always go for the policies that offer to cover maximum pre-existing diseases, so that any complications arising due to pre-existing diseases are also covered. Additionally, get as many critical illnesses covered as possible because their treatment costs can put a big hole in your pocket. The best health insurance plans will definitely give you benefits on these lines as suggested here.

It was said or a myth was spread that either company does not cover pre-existing diseases or they charge a huge amount for it. But the truth is that usually when an insurance company sets a waiting period before covering the pre-existing disease, and only after that waiting period is over, it covers the first existing disease and the cost for that does too.

7) No Claim Bonuses

Most insurance companies offer to increase your cover at no extra cost if you haven’t filed for any claims in a financial year or they offer discounts on your premium keeping the coverage amount the same. Find out about such plans and then make the decision.

8) Company Background

It is very important to check the insurance company’s background, claim settlement ratio, and back-office operations to enjoy a smooth relationship. IRDA launches an every-year CSR report to verify every insurance company’s performance. The good thing about this report is IRDA keeps transparency between the customer and the insurance company.

9) Network Hospitals

This is yet another important point to be considered as the network hospitals associated with your insurance provider shall be near your place of residence in case of emergencies. Otherwise, getting cashless treatment might become difficult.

10) Start Early

It is advisable to buy a plan as early in your life as possible to get maximum benefits. Also, even if your employer has given you medical cover, you do need to have one of your own for maximum coverage. It is said that if you want to buy a health policy, then buy a policy in Young, it has many advantages like low premium and the range of coverage is also very long.

Keep these points in mind, and you will end up buying the best health insurance that will prove to be of great benefit to you and your family. Be careful, be wise!