The cost of medical treatment is one of the most expensive phenomena for almost everyone in the country. The treatment of some critical illness may cause the cash outflow equivalent to a few months’ salaries of the person or even more. In the absence of a good health insurance plan, it will be almost impossible for the common man to get quality treatment of critical illness involving the hospitalization. Hence, it is utmost important for every citizen to take adequate health insurance cover for himself and his family.
The criteria to choose the best insurance plan is your present age, family size, existing illness if any, personal habits and hospital network of insurance company.
Your Age
Many people believe that young persons do not need health insurance. However, the medical emergency comes uninvited, and you may land in sudden financial distress if you are not prepared. Another reason to buy the health insurance plan at an early age is to save the premium. Lower the age, lower the premium. Many times, the insurance company denies giving an insurance policy to the older adult, as the probability of the disease may increase shortly. Moreover, at a later age, the company may exclude any pre-existing disease from your policy cover. The earlier you act, the better you get.
Family Size
It is recommended to take family health insurance, also known as family floater policy if you are family of more than two members. The individuals having no family can opt for standard health insurance. The family floater policy provides health cover to every member of the family under a single policy. It reduces the overall premium against single policy and administrative hurdles.
Pre-Existing Diseases
The health insurance is the protection of yourself against unknown medical uncertainty. If some disease is already there in your body, you cannot claim the benefit, as it is against the very basic principle of the insurance. If you or anyone in your family has the pre-existing disease, you should inform the insurance company. If at a later stage it is discovered that you had hidden the fact, your policy may become null and void. Further, you may be denied the insurance from the other insurance companies as well.
For certain pre-existing diseases, the waiting period for coverage is from one year to four years. Some policies cover the pre-existing disease from the very first day. Based on your health condition, you should vouch for the correct policy and disclosure needed. You may get the coverage at an additional premium.
Hospital Network
For cashless treatment, every insurance company has a tie-up with hospitals for cashless treatment in almost all major cities of the country. You can check the network of the hospital in your city. If the insurance company’s network includes the hospital nearby your home, such policy could be perfect for you.
In case the cashless facility is not available, you have to pay the bills of the hospital first, and then make a claim with the supporting documents and reports to the insurance policy. The duration to clear the claim can vary form two weeks to three months, depending on the complexity of the claim. This situation adds the financial stress to the already worried relatives of the patient. To avoid such situation, you may consider devoting adequate time to research more about hospital network and cashless facility for your health insurance plan.
In a nutshell, the best health insurance plan is not the same for everyone. It varies from person to person depending on his individual circumstances. The companies like Bajaj Finserve proivdes online health insurance as well. You may consider above guidelines to get the hint for the best medical insurance plan for yourself.
GetSure is an independent insurance agency. We sell life insurance and health insurance policies, primarily to seniors. We started GetSure because we were tired of seeing misleading Medicare and final expense insurance commercials bombard seniors with poor quality advice. Medicare supplement Plan N (Medigap) is designed to help cover some of the costs not covered by Medicare, like co-pays, deductibles, and other out-of-pocket expenses.
