Understand Your Health Insurance Policy
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What is a health insurance policy?
In straightforward terms, purchasing health insurance provides financial protection up to a specific limit for medical costs you might face in a year. It includes coverage for both emergency and scheduled expenses, such as hospital stays, outpatient treatments, surgeries, pre- and post-hospitalization care, and ambulance fees. Thus, choosing the right health insurance plan helps you avoid unexpected financial strain during medical emergencies. Additionally, it offers tax benefits under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act, 1961, on the premiums paid to the insurance provider.
Key benefits of having a health plan
Financial Protection: Covers medical expenses like hospitalization, surgeries, day-care treatments, and ambulance charges, reducing financial strain during emergencies.
Comprehensive Coverage: Includes planned and emergency treatments, pre- and post-hospitalization costs, ensuring broad support for healthcare needs.
Tax Benefits: Premiums paid qualify for tax deductions under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act, 1961, lowering your taxable income.
Peace of Mind: Provides security by mitigating the risk of high medical costs, allowing focus on recovery rather than finances.
Access to Quality Healthcare: Enables treatment at network hospitals with cashless facilities, ensuring timely and quality medical care.
Coverage for Critical Illnesses: Many plans offer specific coverage for serious conditions like cancer or heart disease, often with lump-sum payouts.
Preventive Care: Some plans include wellness benefits like health check-ups, encouraging early detection and management of health issues.
Health Insurance buying checklist
Waiting Period
You should buy a health insurance policy with a minimal waiting period. The lower is the waiting period, the sooner you will be able to avail coverage. You should go through the policy terms & conditions carefully and check the waiting period before buying a policy.
Co-payment
You should opt for a health insurance plan with no co-payment. Without co-payment, you will not have to make any out-of-pocket expenses for each claim. You can check the policy documents to know about any applicable co-payment before buying the policy.
Preventive Health Check-up
You must choose a health insurance plan that offers free preventive health check-up facilities every year. With this benefit, you don’t need to pay for annual medical examinations. You can check the policy benefits while buying to know about preventive health check-up facilities.
Grace Period
You should buy a health insurance policy that offers the maximum grace period. A bigger grace period gives you more time to renew your policy after the due date has passed. You can read the policy wordings to find the exact grace period available under the policy.
Restore Benefits
You should purchase a health insurance plan that offers 100% restore benefits. With restore benefit, your sum insured amount will be fully restored as soon as it gets exhausted after a claim. You can check the policy documents to know if the restore benefit is available
No Claim Bonus
You should pick a health insurance plan with the maximum No Claim Bonus/Cumulative Bonus for every claim-free year. The higher is your No Claim Bonus, the higher will be the increase in your sum insured. You must read the policy documents before buying to know about NCB
Sub-limits
You should buy a health insurance plan that comes with no sub-limits. Without sub-limits, you will be free to raise a claim up to the sum insured amount. You can go through the policy wordings to find out about any applicable sub-limits under the health plan.
Network Hospitals
You should choose a health insurance company with the largest network of hospitals in India. The more is the number of network hospitals, the more likely you are to avail cashless treatment in your locality. You can check the network hospitals’ list before buying a health policy.