With several insurance companies in the market today and all of them offering mediclaim at affordable premium rates, it’s only natural to get confused. You don’t want to be tricked into buying a health insurance policy only for its attractive premium or only because it covers more diseases than some others. There are a number of factors to consider before going ahead with buying a health insurance plan for you or your loved ones.
Here are some smart tips to help you make an informed decision. Read the post to know more.
Top Tips to Choose the Best Health Insurance Plan in India
1.Sum Insured Matters – The very first thing to remember when buying a mediclaim policy is to go for the most appropriate sum insured that best suits your health needs. Going for a higher or lower sum insured than what would actually be required to cover your medical expenses is likely to create problems in both the cases.
For instance, if you choose a high sum insured, you’d automatically be required to pay a higher (often unaffordable) premium. Similarly, choosing a low insured sum would not be adequate to provide coverage for your health expenditure in case of emergency and you’d actually end up paying the rest on your own (again burdening your own pocket).
What would be wise though is to choose a basic health insurance plan that provides for a low sum insured. You can then top up the basic plan with an add-on that provides additional coverage over and above the sum insured, as and when required.
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2. Do a thorough research on the plan coverage – Not all mediclaim plans provide sufficient coverage for all critical diseases or illnesses. It is therefore a good idea to do a check on all that the insurance plan covers and excludes before going ahead and buying it. Make sure that the plan you go for covers costs incurred on hospital stay, day care, ambulance, maternity expenses (in case of delivery), etc.
Again, as with sum insured, make sure that the policy you choose provides just the right coverage as per your health needs. Buying a plan with much more coverage than is actually required would obligate you to pay more premium.
- Check up the claim-settlement ratio – Another important point to consider when buying a health insurance plan. Always choose a policy that promises a high claim settlement ratio, such as the one offered by PayBima. Claim Settlement Ratio or CSR calculates the total number of claims settled in ratio to the number of claims received during a specific time duration. PayBima offers a high CSR, meaning the company settles all health insurance claims promptly.
- Check for lifetime renewal feature – It’s best to buy health insurance when you’re young because you can easily afford paying the premium; however, you’d need the policy the most only in your old age. This is why it’s a good idea to go for a plan that comes with lifetime renewability. You can easily get the same policy renewed upon its expiry even when you’re old.
- Choose family insurance over individual plans – It’s always better to buy health insurance for your entire family rather than just for yourself. This would help you easily afford medical costs for the treatment of any family member. Also, when going for family health insurance packages, family floater plans work better than buying a policy each for every individual family member. The former turn out to be more economical, plus the sum insured on the floater plan can be availed by any family member, as and when needed.
- Prefer policies with low PED waiting period – Most health insurance policies would not cover claims made for Pre-Existing Diseases (PED). However, there are some that do and in this case, make sure to choose a plan that promises a low waiting period for the policyholder to file a claim for PED.
Other Points to Remember When Buying Health Insurance in India
Other than the above tips, there are a few more important points that you should bear in mind when choosing a mediclaim plan –
- Do your homework on the insurance company you wish to buy health insurance from. Check up online reviews on them and make sure they have a good name in the market.
- Also compare several health insurance policies from different insurers before zeroing in on any one. Check for the coverage offered by each, premium rates, PED waiting period, etc.
- Choose an insurer with a wide network of hospitals, preferably more in your neighborhood or vicinity. Also check if these hospitals offer cashless hospitalization, avoiding the need for bill payment on discharge.
PayBima offers an online health insurance service for individuals and families, along with special add-on features and top-up plans over the basic plan. Visit the website for more details.
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