How Much Health Insurance Do You Need? Here’s Your Answer
When Arjun Raman’s dependent parents were struck by Covid-19, their treatment and hospitalization bills were alarmingly high. Fortunately, the young software executive had a health insurance policy that covered the costs entirely.but If he had not taken out a policy, the financial crisis would have been devastating to himself and his growing family.
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Why Do You Need Health Insurance?
Vulnerability: With dramatic changes in our lifestyle, we have become much more vulnerable to a range of chronic illnesses such as diabetes, cardio problems, respiratory issues, and more. High-stress levels, poor nutritional choices, and harmful pollution add to the risks, and health insurance protects you in these situations.
Higher Medical Costs: Advances in medicine have undoubtedly benefited us, but they come at a high cost. Hence In case of unexpected emergencies, medical costs can spiral out of control, and without insurance, we have to dip into savings or take loans at exorbitant interest.
Tax Benefits: You can use your health insurance policy to offset tax liabilities. Under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act, you can claim deductions on premiums paid, based on your age, whether it covers your own spouse and children, and if you’ve purchased the policy for your senior parents. Deductions are available towards premium paid.
Customization: You can add important riders that provide coverage for a range of additional procedures and treatments that were not available earlier. Today, policies cover AYUSH, psychiatric treatments, dental procedures, OPD, physiotherapy, daily cash payments, consumables, etc. Get Quote
How Much Do You Need?
Coverage depends on:
- The kind of hospital do you prefer
- Your status
- Current age and health conditions of self and family members covered
- Your budget
- Needs
- Income
- Lifestyle
In general, experts advise that health insurance coverage should be at least 50% of your annual income. This means that in the event of a crisis, you don’t get into a financial tailspin from which it’s difficult to recover.
Another tip offered by professionals is to get coverage that’s roughly equal to the cost of a coronary artery bypass surgery in the hospital of your choice. This would be a good benchmark against which to measure likely healthcare costs.
You can also pick your plan based on whether you’re:
An Individual: If you’re a young, single, employed person, choose a plan that suits your financial goals. At this stage, you get the benefit of lower premiums, no health check-ups, and the best taxation benefits. There are lower risks of getting lifestyle diseases or serious health problems, so your chances of making claims are relatively low. This means you can get the additional advantage of the No Claim Bonus, which could boost your sum insured by nearly 200%
A Family: As the needs of a family increase, the burden of healthcare also rises. Medical costs have increased at a nearly 15% inflation rate since the last decade. A family consisting of two adults and two children can avail of a plan that offers optimal mix coverage. Family floater plans are the best option at this stage.
Senior Citizens: This calls for a realistic approach while factoring in the rising costs of medical care. Today even a routine surgery could set you back by a few lakhs. Seniors are also more vulnerable to age-related conditions, chronic problems and are at risk, for instance, in today’s pandemic scenario. Hence, the cost of health insurance would be higher according to the purchaser’s age and with reference to their pre-existing health problems.
Look for Comprehensive Health Policy
Buying a health policy is not a big deal, but finding the best policy is like a finding sip from the ocean. Before buying a health policy you figure out what kind of coverage you want, and your selective health policy covers the points that you want at that time. But the question is, is your coverage range is enough to cover you because you are just predicting the uncertainties but uncertainties would be more worst than you think or would be different from what you think? In such a scenario, you need a comprehensive health policy that will protect you from all over. Although you can make your health policy comprehensive, you have to add some rider with your health policy and it’ll make things easy for you.
Try to know the ‘Incurred Claim Ratio’ report of your health insurer
Talking about the recent time, there are more than 20 Health Insurance Companies in India. and every particular company claims that they are the best health insurance company. but before buying a health policy everyone should do a small research about the health policy and also about health insurance companies. Every year IRDAI launches the ‘Incurred Claim Ratio’ report of every insurance company, for the convenience and knowledge of customers. furthermore Before choosing any health policy, first, you need to know about the health insurance and its performance in a particular year. The ‘Incurred Claim Ratio’ report gives us a broader view of the performance of the Insurance company.
Read Also – Latest Incurred Claim Ratio Report.
Keep these ‘Riders’ with your plan
Every insurance company provides a health policy and the basic difference between all of them is a range of coverage and benefits, the rider benefits with a health policy is a much-needed benefit for us very few health policies offer to their customer, and With the help of rider benefit you can add riders to your health plan, the rider gives you an opportunity to make your health policy comprehensive and it’ll cover you in every single worst situation. Riders are:
- Premium Waiver
- Accidental Death
- Critical Illness
- Disability Benefits
- Accelerated Death Benefits
- Loss of Employment
- Hospitalization Benefits
- Tax benefits according to prevailing tax regulations.
Riders that every single person should add to their health policy so that, they get full coverage, and it’ll give some relief to them. Moreover, Every rider provides you with special care and protects you from every different uncertainty,
Conclusion
Well, a health policy is not a liquid item, which should be sold to every customer in a fixed quantity, but one thing you should know that if you are thinking of buying a health policy, then you will also know that ‘Which rider is required to be added to your plan?
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