A person's capacity to maintain financial stability is greatly influenced by its health insurance. In addition to offering financial assistance, purchasing health insurance provides assurance. Therefore, purchasing enough insurance is crucial.
Our healthcare needs evolve as the times do. And at that point, a basic health insurance plan can begin to seem "inadequate" to cover all of your medical requirements and related extra costs. Does that imply that you must replace your current basic health insurance plan to pay all the additional costs? Definitely not. In fact, by including riders to your current health insurance coverage, you can enhance your fundamental policy. One may decide to purchase additional coverage, or riders, as they are more commonly known, in such a situation.
Defining the Riders in Health Insurance
A rider is an add-on benefit that can be added to your standard health insurance plan. Adding riders can increase your health insurance coverage as needed and more affordably. Nonetheless, the premium for riders is limited to 30% of the primary insurance plan by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI).
Riders enable insurance providers to design solutions that address some consumers' unique needs that are not covered by regular insurance policies. Adding various forms of extra coverage allows health insurance companies to offer subsidised insurance riders to tailor plans. Two benefits of insurance riders are the benefits from not having to purchase a separate policy and the ability to adjust coverage later.
The health insurance policy's owner should consider the rider's cost and determine whether they need it before adding it. In addition, it's a good idea to ensure the rider does not duplicate any of the insurance already covered by the primary policy. Some of the top health insurance riders are as follows:
Room Rent Waiver
The cost of lodging is frequently capped, and many insurance providers include common, ordinary, or semi-private rooms in their health insurance plans. You must add the room rent waiver rider to get a room of your choice without paying extra at the time of entry.
Critical Illness Rider
To start, let's define a critical illness rider in a health insurance policy. As the name implies, this added benefit enables the insured to get financial assistance from the insurer in case of a serious illness or condition that typically calls for lengthy medical care. A few examples are heart problems that include heart attacks, MS, tumours, cancer, and organ transplants.
The advantage of adding this rider to your health insurance policy is that, in the event that you are given a critical illness diagnosis, you will be eligible to receive a lump sum payment or an insured sum from the insurer. The sum insured is independent of the total cost associated with treating the serious illness is another important advantage of critical illness riders in health insurance. In addition, a critical illness rider can be readily added to your term insurance or health insurance policy.
Maternity Cover
Many health insurance plans in India don't pay the policyholder's maternity expenses. However, it is undeniable that the entire delivery cost can be pretty taxing on the wallet. This is the time to consider adding a maternity health insurance cover rider. It would aid in defraying the price of giving birth. Before acquiring the rider, you might want to verify with your insurer, as some insurance plans only offer limited protection for pregnancy and post-delivery fees.
Hospital Cash Rider
In the event of an unexpected hospitalisation, this rider may be handy. Daily expenses incurred while in the hospital might add up quickly. Still, this rider can help by giving the policyholder daily cash allowances and some other benefits for medical bills incurred while in the hospital. Additionally, if the patient needed intensive care (such as in an ICU), monetary benefits would only be provided if the patient stayed in the hospital for longer than 24 hours.
Personal Accident Rider
Accidents might also result in significant costs. The policyholder's family is eligible to receive double the amount specified under the rider in the health insurance plan in the tragic event of the policyholder's accidental death. In addition, this rider can be purchased to cover all costs if a permanent or temporary disability is brought on by accident.
Read more - Benefits of Personal Accident Insurance
Room Rent Waiver Rider
This is another useful add-on that enables you to book the hospital room of your preference without worrying about your insurer setting a room rent cap. To ensure that you have a comfortable stay while in the hospital, this rider helps to eliminate room rent capping. Patients who live in large cities, where hospital room rent can be rather expensive, can benefit significantly from it.
Top-up and Super Top-up
These programmes are intended to offer supplemental financial assistance in a medical emergency. As their names imply, top-up and super-top-up health insurance plans take effect when the basic plan's allotment is exceeded. Therefore, people should get top-up plans if they feel their basic health insurance is insufficient.
Conclusion
Health insurance riders were first developed to cover potential medical costs for the insured. It is impossible to undervalue the substance of insurance riders. They make healthcare services accessible to everyone and enable the average person to afford high-quality treatments. It is advised to have these riders if you have a pre-existing condition or are currently experiencing specific conditions.
Read more - Can Insurance Riders be Included in Health Insurance?
