Buying Health Insurance in India? Follow this point checklist A lot of changes has happened in health insurance industry over last 5 yrs. The overall health insurance industry to some level is standardized and new regulations are in place. A lot of investors have bought their mediclaim policies many years back when rules were raw and when few things were in favor of insurers, not investors.
Given the changes, I thought, it’s the time to edit the whole article written long back and update all the points. So here you go. Health Insurance products now have far fewer hidden bombs to surprise you now, For instance All Health Insurance policies are now mandatorily issued for life-time. Insurance companies cannot levy claim based loading once the policy is issued. nsurers need to give a clear 3 months advance notification to existing customers before increasing premiums or terms in a policy. What’s more, thanks to the competition brought in by specialized health insurance companies, there have been many interesting features added to the otherwise standard mediclaim products. So now I am putting up 13 points every investor should read before they buy health insurance. These 13 points can act as the guide for someone who wishes to either buy a new health cover or wants to
upgrade their health insurance cover. These points are not tips as such, but various dimensions revolving around the health insurance buying decision-making. Point #1 – Don’t be too late in buying a health insurance policy I have seen too many customers, especially the well-educated ones, literally trying to find a health insurance product which has all the “dream” features bundled into a single product. They want high cover, less premium, best claim settlement, no loading, OPD cover, extreme fast claim settlement, maternity and high-end benefits. At times, it happens that 8 out of 10 things required by the customer is present in the policy, but 2 out of 10 is not there, and what do customers do? They try to find some other policy which has all 10/10 things covered. This just leads to procrastination. There are millions of investors who are delaying taking health insurance from many years and this is the single biggest mistake one can make. Point #2 – Assess who do you want to cover and their health status It is important to finalize the list of people you want to cover. Also, take an account their current health status. Make sure you cover most of your family members for whom you are responsible for. At times, people buy health insurance for self, spouse and kids and ignore parents. If all are young and healthy, no hospitalization history, no chronic ailment detected, you are going to be spoilt for choice! If you have members who are above 50 and/or have a medical history/condition then you should be prepared for some pain (more on this later) which will most probably include having certain time bound exclusions in your policy. Or you might have to pay higher premiums. Point #3 – Assess your lifestyle The greatest best health insurance in india is taking care of your health. Keep a check on your own lifestyle, as well as your family’s. If you/your family is fit, following a healthy routine or regularly exercising, have healthy food habits, doesn’t smoke, has no history of excessive drinking, you’re in a good place with regards to risks and coverage required. If not, then you have a much higher risk to hedge. This, apart from inflation, needs to be taken into consideration, when deciding the sum insured. If not, then you have a much higher risk to hedge. This, apart from inflation, needs to be taken into consideration, when deciding the sum insured. But be clear that just having good health or good lifestyle is not an excuse to ignore health insurance policy. Leading a good lifestyle just protects you from illnesses, you still don’t have much control on accidents, or some diseases which can still happen even though you have a good lifestyle. Point #4 – Individual Covers or Family Floater? You also need to be clear if you want to buy individual cover for each person, or a family floater policy?
Family Floaters seem to be a no-brainer, as they are very efficient. The idea is that not all family members will be hospitalized in the same year. You get a large cover shared amongst all family members for one of you to claim. The price is lower/efficient than buying individual covers. Point #13 – Review your existing policy and look at options to Port If you have an existing policy which does meet the above mentioned 12 points, and you are still young and healthy, I would recommend you to look at porting your mediclaim policy to a better company around 2 months before your next renewal. Unfortunately, if you have already made claims in your existing policy, or have any chronic ailment to declare for any family member, the chances of portability are very dim. I would then recommend you look at upping your cover with the same insurance company, and look for other options (like Super Topup) by which you can hedge the negatives in your existing coverage. [Source: http://www.jagoinvestor.com/2015/02/buy-health-insurance-in-india.html]