Safeguard Your Medical Concerns with the Right Health Insurance Plan

Picking the right mediclaim policy will definitely ease out your medical as well as financial concerns. Here are some factors that you must keep in mind before finalizing one.

Choosing the right plan

Before comparing different health plans, you must know the type of plan you are looking for. Whether you want to buy health insurance policy for yourself, your family, or your parents? This is an important step! For example, HDFC ERGO Health (Formerly Known as Apollo Munich) health insurance offers three plans; if you want to cover every member of your family under one plan in a pocket-friendly manner, you can buy the family floater plan. If you want to get a specific sum assured for each family member (in case someone falls ill too often or needs regular medical care), then this could be a viable option. This will ensure that the entire sum assured is not wiped out on one individual, thereby, balancing the benefits for other family members.  And if you have elderly parents, then you can buy health insurance for senior citizens. Once you are clear about the type of health insurance you need, most of your major medical concerns will be remedied.

Choosing the right sum assured

Buying a health insurance policy just for the sake of it won’t cut it. In real-life case scenario, a sum of lakh or two cannot meet all your medical concerns, especially with ever-increasing costs of quality treatment.

Read about the premium amount and the sum assured carefully. A high policy premium doesn’t always mean that your sum assured will be high as well. It may have some other inclusions that may not be required by you. So, you must be clear about the inclusions and exclusions and based on this information should zero down on the premium and the sum assured.

Understanding the inclusions and limitations

To select the ideal insurance policy, you must check all the inclusions your policy is offering. Also, check for add-on covers. Apart from hospitalization, there are a number of other things that an insurance policy covers. For example, under HDFC ERGO Health (Formerly Known as Apollo Munich) health insurance plan Day2Day Care, you will get benefits like free consultations from paneled hospitals, cover for outpatient expenses, medicines, vaccines, medical tests, and remedial exercises. Also, there are plans to cover pre and post hospitalization charges as well as domiciliary treatment, in case of emergencies.

Does your health insurance address your health emergencies?

Amid the sedentary regime, lifestyle diseases like diabetes, blood pressure are on the rise. Don’t assume that every health insurance plan comes pre-loaded with this type of coverage. Instead, you will have to evaluate various policies and finalize the one which covers lifestyle diseases. And if there is any pre-existing illness, do not forget to inform your insurer beforehand. It is unlikely that it would be given cover in a normal policy, so you will have to add it on to your existing one.

You must also be clear about the waiting period clause, especially in terms of pre-existing diseases. It’s recommended to go with the policy that entails minimum waiting period, so as to get desirable medical benefits and financial assistance. You merely need to identify the appropriate insurance policy to avoid running from pillar to post at the eleventh hour.

Read and understand the policy document

It’s always better to be well aware in advance about all the policy clauses, in order to avoid any last minute hassle. Read about rent capping for hospital rooms and look for the one with maximum room rent limit. Familiarize yourself with the co-payment clause and check the percentage of expenses you will need to pay for, in case of an emergency. Try to choose a cover with no co-payment clause or a lower co-pay limit. Some insurers keep a sub-limit as well, for e.g., 5% sub-limit means that 5% of the treatment amount will have to be paid by you. It’s always advisable to go with policies that have minimal clauses and lower sub-limits.

Check the network of hospitals

Every health insurance company has an empaneled network of hospitals. As you will get the benefit of cashless treatment in these hospitals, you should check the list of the network-listed hospitals. For easy access, you should pick one of the network hospitals in your vicinity.

To sum up

If you really want your health insurance policy to address all your medical concerns, you now have enough information to help you choose the right one. You need to analyze your personal and medical needs based on the above parameters. After that, you will be able to zero down on the medical policy that precisely fulfills your requirements.

Disclaimer : *Policybazaar does not endorse, rate or recommend any particular insurer or insurance product offered by an insurer.