Did you know that India’s medical costs are surging by 15 to 20{d3c60023947365f0952b5035a9683a235cbc7c14337ea22b03cb0529785b7564} annually? Lifestyle diseases are on the rise, and rising medical costs are not matched by rising pay. Patients with arthritis, diabetes, and other such troubles not only have initial diagnosis and treatment costs but must pay for alleviation and mitigation costs throughout the rest of their life.
Unpredictable costs and a financial burden add to the toll of an unexpected illness. Medical insurance is protection for you, but more importantly, it is protection from your family who can rest assured that they will be able to afford your medical costs and will have one less worry on their shoulders during a difficult time.
What is Medical Insurance?
A medical insurance or health insurance policy is basically a payment to an insurance provider on the grounds that you will receive back a sum to cover any urgent medical or hospitalization expenses.
Some medical insurance policies only provide for expenses due to hospitalization over a period of a few days or more, but more and more insurance providers are beginning to branch out and offer many different types of health insurance products.
- Day-care hospitalization is frequently offered
- Pre- and post-hospitalization expenses are frequently reimbursed or paid to the healthcare provider
- Other expenses such as diagnostic costs are also sometimes covered
Who Should Get a Medical Insurance Policy?
There are many people around the age of early to late thirties who are in good health and are confident of their own health and body. They often feel that they have no need for a health insurance policy and it would be a waste of their money.
Is this true?
- Even with healthy lifestyles, people living in cities can become unavoidable due to reasons of pollution, or other factors.
- Tragic accidents or critical illnesses do not come with a warning. Recovering from these may require a great deal of time and expense, during which period you may be unable to work.
- After developing a lifestyle illness such as diabetes, it is very difficult to get coverage. Being pre-covered may save a great deal of expense at a future point.
- If you have a family to support then your illness is not only a tragedy for you, but for your family as well.
In summary, it is clear that most people should get a medical insurance policy, unless they are absolutely certain that they could handle the massive costs of a sudden critical illness or accident out-of-pocket.
Types of Medical Insurance Plans Available
Does getting a medical insurance plan simply mean calling up an agent and taking the first policy you are offered? Certainly not. Insurance providers offer multiple forms of health insurance plans nowadays:
- Individual Health Insurance Policies: The costs are covered for one individual, including hospitalization charges along with in-patient care typically along with medical care for the duration.
- Family Floater Health Insurance Policies: These plans usually cover parents and up to two children, which is cheaper than individual premiums for all.
- Senior Citizen Health Insurance Plans: Anyone above the age of 60 years will be eligible for senior citizen plans, with lower premiums offered.
- Critical Illness Plans: Critical illnesses generally covered include cancer, organ transplant, kidney failure, etc. All illnesses covered will be mentioned specifically.
- Personal Accident Covers: These may be add-ons or separate policies, which cover an individual in case of accidents resulting in hospitalization and any form of injury.
- Preventive Healthcare: This allows for slightly lower costs on regular (usually annual) health check-ups.
- Maternity Health Insurance: These plans typically cover pre-natal to post-natal costs, along with covering medical costs for any medical complication.
Check out different policies available at PolicyX to note the differences and make an informed decision. You can compare health insurance plans in India from the same platform and can choose the best one accordingly.
Choosing An Insurance Policy
There are a number of things to note while choosing an insurance policy, including the fine details of which policies have what exceptions, and so on. These are factors that you should look at yourself, instead of trusting an insurance agent who would not be aware of your future needs and plans.
- The reputation of the insurance provider: what is their claims settlement ratio and how customer-friendly their reputation is.
- What sort of add-ons do they offer: are they valuable to you or whether you will have to make two separate policies to cover all your needs.
- Are they offering conveniences: can you open and renew health plan online, whether you can renew the plan automatically and keep a relatively low premium.
- What sort of pre-existing conditions they cover.