Due to the rising stress level and changing lifestyle, catching diseases unexpectedly has become quite common. For this reason, it is important to stay financially prepared for such untoward events, irrespective of your age. Otherwise, the treatment cost of an acute disease might sweep away all your lifetime savings.
In order to help you stay financially protected against such uncertainties, there are a number of health insurance products available in the market. Depending on your medical history and specifications, you can choose an appropriate health insurance plan for yourself and your family.
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Before choosing a health insurance plan, do not miss to consider any of the following things:
1. Individual or Family Health Insurance Plan
Firstly, it is important to determine whether you want to buy individual health insurance or family health insurance. Usually, this depends on who all do you have in your family
If it’s just your spouse and your parents, you can buy an individual health insurance plan, and opt for senior citizen health insurance for your parents. Otherwise, you can also opt for a family health insurance plan covering everyone.
2. Analyze Your Requirement
After you have decided the type of insurance you want to buy, it is important to analyze your requirement depending on your medical specifications, pre-existing ailments, etc. This will also help you in determining an adequate sum assured
3. Choose High Sum Assured
Due to the rising medical cost and uncertainty of diseases, it is preferable to choose the sum assured as high as possible. Unfortunately, if you catch hold of any disease and you have a high sum assured, you might not have to pay any of your medical expenses. However, in such a case, the premium amount might be comparatively high, but it would be beneficial later.
4. Rider Benefits
A basic health insurance plan might not cover offer compensation under certain situations. Therefore, to broaden your health insurance coverage, you can opt for a number of riders. Find them below:
- Critical illness rider
- Accident disability rider
- Maternity rider
- Room Rent Waiver
5. Cashless Claim Benefit
Under a cashless claim, the insurance provider settles the medical bill directly with the hospital. You need not pay anything out of your pocket, except the charges which are not covered under the health insurance policy. Usually, this benefit is available only if you get yourself treated from one of their network hospitals.
6. Network Hospitals
It is important to check through the list of network hospitals of the insurance provider. Also, it is advisable to choose an insurance provider who has the maximum number of network hospitals. This way, you can have a number of hospital options to get your treatment done and avail of cashless claim benefit.
7. Claim Settlement Ratio
This ratio depicts the number of claims settled by the insurance provider in the past. To ensure the credibility of the insurance provider and speedy claim settlement, it is important to check out the claim settlement ratio of the insurance provider.
8. Inclusions And Exclusions of the Policy
Inclusions and exclusions of an insurance policy are the most important things to be considered before applying for health insurance. Find below a few expenses for which you can look for:
- In-patient hospitalization expenses
- Pre and post hospitalization expenses (medical test expenses, ambulance charges, etc.)
- Domiciliary treatment ( treatment at home under certain conditions)
- COVID-19 cover
- Dental treatment
- Day-care procedure
Once you have considered all the factors mentioned above, the final step is to choose a reputable and trustworthy insurance provider, like TATA AIG, to stay assured of uninterrupted services and avail of assistance whenever required. They offer maximum benefits possible based on your sum assured and medical specifications so that you can get through the tough times easily while having most of your medical expenses covered.
