Each person must have a health insurance policy to deal with major medical expenditures. Have you heard people advising you to buy health insurance early? Let’s look at the right age to buy health insurance and why you must buy it at an early age.
Medical science has seen significant development. Thus, treatments and cures are available for most ailments. Still, the charges incurred for similar treatments are humongous and may affect severe financial stress if you don't have health insurance coverage.
Why Should You Buy Health Insurance at a Very Young Age?
It would be best to buy health insurance as soon as you turn 18. Take a look at why buying health insurance at a young age is excellent.
Financial Freedom
The essential purpose of health insurance is to pay your medical charges. Else, you would have to pay them from your fund. With a health policy, you save huge on medical expenditures. Therefore, the sooner you buy the policy, the more financial freedom you will enjoy in your life.
Lower Premiums
Your age is one of the most critical factors determining your health insurance premium. As young people are likely to be healthy, the premiums for them are low. On the negative side, aged people are more vulnerable to diseases and, therefore, are a greater liability to the insurance provider. As a result, the lower your age, the lower will be your premium amount.
Easier to Induce Over Waiting Period
Every health insurance policy's initial waiting period is 30 days. Young adults are less likely to lift a claim during this era as their probability of getting any serious medical condition is veritably low. Thus, they can easily pass the earliest waiting period. The same cannot be said for senior people, as they might face a medical emergency within days of buying the policy but cannot file a health insurance claim because of the waiting period, resulting in excessive out-of-pocket costs for them.
No Pre-Policy Medical Check-up
In most cases, if you apply for a health insurance policy at a young age, you won't need a medical check-up. This plan protects you from having your premiums increased by a disease/medical condition discovered by the health insurance company. For people over 45 years of age, this option is usually not available, and the amount of the premium is determined by their medical checkup report.
Earning Cumulative Perk
Every claim-free year earns you a perk in most health insurance plans. Using this bonus, you can increase your sum insured amount at no additional cost. During a policy year, a young person is more likely to be fit and not need to make a claim. This way, he can smoothly earn cumulative perks over the years. Such perks lead to an increased sum insured, increasing your cover against surging medical costs. On average, healthcare costs can rise around 7-15% a year. So, you can imagine the help you will get by grabbing these perks.
But aged people may need to raise a claim to their age-related medical conditions, making it difficult for them to earn a cumulative perk.
When Do You Have to Buy a Health Insurance Policy?
The right time or age to buy a health insurance policy is your mid twenties and early thirties. At this age, you'll most likely be healthy and not have many responsibilities towards your family. You can check the possible scenarios when buying the policy at different ages.
Case 1: Buying Health Insurance in Your 20s
You’ll likely pay your health insurance premium effortlessly as you won’t have any financial pressure at such an age. Your premiums will be affordable and less, which will allow you to conclude elegant coverage as per your insurance needs. You'll be capable of getting additional coverage similar to maternity health insurance which you need in the future. Also, you can get a lifetime renewal facility and easily earn an accretive perk.
Case 2: Buying Health Insurance in Your 30s
Here, you're most likely to conclude a family health insurance plan. You might be planning to settle down, marry, and start a family at this age. So, you would want coverage for your spouse & children. Further, you may want to buy other covers for diseases like diabetes, blood pressure, etc. For some, symptoms of these diseases can appear in their 30s. The premium would thus rise, maybe not astronomically.
Case 3: Purchasing Health Insurance in Your 40s and 50s
Still, you would need to conclude for higher coverage, if you are supposed to buy a health insurance policy in your 40s and 50s. Your financial responsibilities will be the topmost at this age, and you may have developed specific diseases like cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. As an outcome, you may opt for broader coverage with critical illnesses and ensure improvement. Your premium will no doubt be high at this time. You may choose a family floater coverage to reduce your premium, but it'll still be high enough.
Case 4: Purchasing Health Insurance After Turning 60 Years Old
You'll have to pay a hefty premium if you buy a health insurance policy after turning 60. At this age, you are most likely to face serious medical conditions that may require prolonged treatment and hospitalization. Entry-level health insurance is not enough at this stage of life. Elderly health insurance may be required. The amount available can help cover AYUSH treatment, hospitalization, organ donation costs, etc. However, senior citizen health insurance plans may not have much sum insured in terms of the healthcare costs that may prevail at that time.
If you do not have health insurance, take out as much health insurance as possible during this time. To choose the best policy within your budget, compare and research all the different health insurance plans online at Paytm Insurance, a leading insurance marketplace. The sooner you buy, the better for the future.
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