Health Insurance is one of the most crucial investments not just because of the money involved but because of the involvement of the most important aspect of your life – your health. Thus, it is imperative to consider several factors while buying health insurance for you and your family.
In India, people do a lot of research before buying a new item or product. So, how can you buy an important product like a health insurance policy without proper research or only on the basis of recommendation. Since a health insurance policy is an asset that takes care of your healthcare needs and aids you during health emergencies, you cannot take a chance with them.
But it is seen that people tend to make mistakes while buying health insurance and lose on good deals. So, to avoid such mistakes, we are discussing some very important questions to ask at the time of buying a health insurance policy.
Below are the most crucial 12 questions that you must find the answers to before you pick an insurance policy for yourself and your family:
When you buy health insurance, the first thing you need to know is about your healthcare needs. Depending on that you can decide the coverage you are looking for in a health insurance policy. It will be much easier to check the policy features as per your requirement if you know what you want.
Another very important thing to consider when you buy health insurance online is to check the claim settlement ratio of the insurance company that you are buying the insurance from. The claim settlement ratio or CSR tells you if the insurer that you are trusting your health with stands true to its commitments in terms of settling claims. A higher claim settlement ratio means a more reliable insurer.
Having a wide range of network hospitals under the insurance company that you are buying your health policy from is important. This is because it allows you greater chance of getting admitted in a network hospital to avail cashless claims.
A medical emergency can arise anywhere even when you are traveling around the country. So, it is important to ensure that your policy doesn’t have any geographical limitation in terms of coverage across India and in claim settlement. In fact, some health plans offer coverage internationally.
Almost all insurance companies apply a waiting period limitation before letting the policyholder avail health coverage on pre-existing diseases (PED). You have to go through this PED waiting period before raising claims against these diseases. It is important to clarify the length of the waiting period so that you can raise PED claims soon.
Health emergencies bring upon a lot of stress and people tend to forget many important things during such times. Hence, it is important to find out in advance about the process that needs to be followed during emergency hospitalization. You must know about things like whom to contact during an emergency, the documentation process etc.
Sometimes during a health emergency, one might have to get admitted in a non-network hospital. In that case, the claim can be raised on reimbursement basis. This means that you will have to make the payment to the hospital from your pocket at discharge and can raise a claim later. It is important to know the details of such a claim process.
While talking about how to buy health insurance or what things to consider while buying health insurance, you must keep a note of the documents or paperwork that are required at the time of raising a health insurance claim so that you can keep them handy if required.
There are various factors that are considered while determining the premium of a health insurance such as age of insured, medical history of insured, and so on. All these factors determine the amount of premium you pay. So, ask your insurer about the factors that they consider for determining the policy premium.
There are some health policies which require the insured to pay out of pocket costs like co-pay, deductibles etc. You must check in advance about the various out of pocket expenses that you might have to incur before you buy a health plan. Choose a policy that doesn’t cost you exorbitant out of pocket payment.
Inclusions are the features that are covered under a policy, while exclusions are the ones that are not covered under a policy. You should know what all things are covered and not covered under a policy so that you can seek a plan that allows you maximum coverage.
Generally, policies do not have any limit regarding the number of claims raised in a year unless it doesn’t exceed the sum insured. But you should confirm it with your insurer before policy purchase. Also, you should check if your policy allows regular routine health check-ups.
All the questions mentioned above and many more are there which you must think and rethink while buying health insurance. You should also consider whether to buy family health insurance or individual health policy. Overall, it is recommended to buy health insurance online in India as you can avail many deals and discounts. Consider every detail sensibly and buy a health plan to suit your needs.
* Rs. 245/month is the starting price for a 5 lac health insurance for an 25-year-old male, with no pre-existing diseases.
*! Rs. 334/month is the starting price for a 10 lac health insurance for an 25-year-old male, with no pre-existing diseases.
*@ Rs. 12/day is the starting price for a 5 lac family health insurance for an 25-year-old male and 22-year-old female, with no pre-existing diseases.
*# Rs. 12/day is the starting price for a 5 lac health insurance for an 25-year-old male, with no pre-existing diseases.
*$ Rs. 600/month is the starting price for a 20 lac health insurance for an 25-year-old male, with no pre-existing diseases.
*^ Rs. 12/day is the starting price for a health insurance that covers coronavirus for an 25-year-old male, with no pre-existing diseases.
