The awareness of purchasing health insurance policies have been increasing among the people these days. With a large number of insurance providers and insurance plans available in the market, it is a difficult task to choose the best ones.
But, choosing the right health insurance policy or rather the best health insurance policy is as important as purchasing a health insurance plan.
Let us talk about the 7 simple steps which can help you in finding the best health insurance policy in India.
Look for the Adequate Coverage
You must choose a health insurance plan which would provide you with adequate cover. The health insurance plan must be providing security against a plethora of medical problems, provides you with several benefits like pre-hospitalisation, post-hospitalisation, transportation, daycare expenses, etc. If you are looking for health insurance plans for your family, then you must check if your policy meets the requirements of all the family members.
Sometimes, it might happen that your chosen plan would be providing sufficient cover in terms of the sum insured but may not be covering the right category of expenses. So, you must consider these things in mind while purchasing your medical insurance.
Pro Tip: Opt for the highest coverage that you can afford so that you do not need to increase it later.
Keep Your Health Insurance Affordable
While your health insurance policy must be fulfilling your needs, it must be pocket-friendly as well. While purchasing a health insurance policy, a budget is an important aspect. However, you must consider the price of your health insurance plan before considering the benefits. It is always advisable to purchase a health insurance plan which is priced in a reasonable manner. You must be covered properly and the premium must be nominal. Later on, you can keep on reviewing your plan and increasing the coverage according to your requirements.
Pro Tip: If you opt for a very expensive health insurance plan, continuing the same becomes an issue in subsequent years and the basic purpose of opting for a health insurance plan gets defeated!
Preference for Family Floater Plans
It is advisable to purchase a family health insurance plan if you are buying the health insurance policy by keeping your family in mind. Individual plans work well for those people who are usually single and are not married yet. By family floater plans, you would be able to avail much more benefits and at a nominal premium.
Pro Tip: Opt for a high coverage plan for yourself, spouse and children and then take a separate floater for your surviving parents. There are multiple benefits for the same with the most obvious one being lower premium. Also, specific senior citizen plans would make more sense especially if they have a pre-existing ailment.
Which Insurance Provider is the Best?
With so many health insurance providers in the market, it is quite difficult to decide who the best one is. However, there are some parameters that must be considered while choosing an insurance provider. One important factor to be considered is the Claim Settlement Ratio (CSR). This would give you an idea about the probability of your claim settlement at the time of filing a claim.
Another factor to be considered while selecting the health insurance provider is the list of those network hospitals where the insurance provider would be offering cashless services. A cashless claim is the best way by which unnecessary delay in your health insurance claim processing can be avoided. Moreover, a major difference between insurance providers is the difference in premiums of the health insurance plans offered by the providers. So, you must perform your proper research and then select the best provider.
Select a Health Insurance Plan With Lifetime Renewability
While purchasing your health insurance plan, you should definitely check the period for which your health insurance policy would cover you. It is always advisable to opt for a lifetime renewable plan as the major need for health insurance plans would be felt during your later years of life.
Pro Tip: Although most health plans do offer lifelong renewability these days. It is always a good practise checking the same especially if it is for a fixed benefit or a group health plan.
Compare Quotes Online
You must compare health insurance plans online with the use of insurance aggregators or brokers. You can select the health insurance plan which caters to your requirements. By making a request for obtaining the quotes online, you can know about the estimated premiums of your chosen health insurance plans. The best of the health insurance quotes can be collected together and then you can compare them to arrive at your decision.
Check Co-pay/Sub-limits and Riders
In health insurance policies, there are conditions like sub-limits and co-pays. In general, health insurance providers apply various sub-limits on the expenses incurred in medical treatment. For instance, there are some health insurance policies in which a specific percentage of the sum insured is applicable to the room rent for inpatient hospitalisation. Hence, you will need to be aware and cautious about this percentage.
There are some health insurance policies which have limits applied to specific surgeries. So, if the sum insured of your health insurance policy is INR 6 lakh, your policy would be providing cover for only 50% of the sum insured necessary for medical treatment. Furthermore, riders would be helpful, if you are opting for any medical treatment. You would have to pay for an additional premium to avail of the benefits of the riders. Some of the most common riders which are available are the pre-existing disease cover, critical illness riders, maternity cover riders, etc. You must understand which riders are actually necessary for you and then opt for them.
Cheat Sheet to Buy the Best Health Insurance Plan in India for Yourself
So, let’s have a look at a cheat-sheet for the purchase of Health Insurance.
- You should opt for the basic indemnity plan as a priority. You can add up plans such as critical illnesses and disease-specific plans later on as your next protection level.
- You must read the policy document carefully and understand the inclusions and exclusions of the policy.
- You should not forget to check for the portability of your health insurance plan i.e. if you can change the insurance provider without any loss of continuity benefits.
- With the increase in age or with the rise in the number of dependents, you would feel the need to increase your sum insured.
- It is advisable to start investing in your health insurance policy at a young age to obtain the advantages of lower effective premium.
Conclusion
So, while looking for health insurance policies your priority should be to look for the best health insurance plan at the best premium prices. The above-mentioned simple pointers would be of great help to you in finding out the best health insurance plan.
