In recent unprecedented times, the most affected thing is health. The costs that go behind healthcare are very excessive. This makes it important to get a health insurance plan. It helps to mitigate the risks of suffering medical expenses by covering the whole or part of these expenses. It is of utmost importance to include health insurance in the financial planning of an individual to cover the ever-increasing medical expenses. It comes with an added benefit of reducing the tax liability. There is a wide range of health insurance plans suitable for people of different age groups. However, the best plan is to be chosen amongst the available plans, which is a critical decision.
Importance of Health Insurance
Ageing is a non-negligible factor, and it comes with health issues, and there might occur uncertain health emergencies, these require huge expenses to be borne. The increasing healthcare costs are enough to make a hole in the pocket, but if a person has health insurance, it helps to cover these expenses. The pandemic has made everyone know how important it is to have health insurance as it covers all the expenses of the disease that include hospitalization costs, nursing, and even ambulance costs.
Benefits of Health Insurance
The key benefits of health insurance include long-term coverage of risks, plans for the individual as well as family, pre and post-hospitalization expense coverage, critical illness cover, plan for parents or senior-citizens, cashless claims, co-payment, no claim benefits, etc.
Individual Health Insurance
A person can opt for an individual policy for oneself or each family member individually to be covered from medical treatment. This is most suitable for accidents and uncertain illnesses.
Family Floater Insurance Policy
Family floater policy helps to cover the family under one plan and not having to pay for 4-5 premium separately. It covers all family members of all age groups like kids, adults, and senior citizens. This covers two or more members of the family at the same time.
Top-up Insurance Plan
An individual can take a top-up insurance plan with the existing health insurance policy for increasing the coverage. This plan helps when the medical expenses go above the base claim amount (also known as the deductible). The premium for this plan is low as it is only claimed if the expense goes above the deductible.
Critical Illness Insurance
The critical illness insurance provides coverage against life-threatening critical illnesses such as cancer, heart attack, etc. for which the expenses are borne heavy, and therefore, a lump sum coverage is provided against this plan. This plan can also be included in the existing plan by payment of an additional amount.
Mediclaim Policy
A mediclaim policy provides cover for any health emergency like accidents related medical expenses up to the sum insured. These policies are not flexible and do not provide any add-ons though are very suitable for instant cover. These can also be taken for an individual or family and are provided only after the hospitalization bill is provided.
Best Health Insurance Plan
Although there are various options available, the best varies from one individual to another. The choice of the best insurance plan depends on various factors such as
* the health issues of the individual and the family,
* the city of residence (as the cost of living is high in metropolitan cities),
* premium paying capacity,
* whether flexibility is required or not,
* the term for which insurance is taken and
* the insured will require add-ons or not.
Another important aspect of health insurance is the insurer. Choosing the right insurer is as important as choosing the right plan. Private health insurance is the plan offered by private insurance companies, and each company has different options to offer. However, the best amongst all is the one that is able to fulfil the needs of the customer by providing them flexibility at good prices.
Geojit, with its deep understanding of financial products and services, helps people choose the best-suited insurance plans considering the needs and importance of insurance in any person’s life.
