We all know how medical expenses ascend as and how you age. But have you considered envisioning this expense as a part of your retirement plan? Health insurance is necessary in today’s world and age; it’s imperative to consider being completely insured keeping in mind the changing lifestyle patterns and recorded frequencies of ailments. It is therefore important to have a health insurance right in your early age, say, by early 30s so that the waiting periods can be well served while in the best health condition.
The fact that even without getting hospitalised particularly, there will be the usual out of pocket expenses, majorly on medicines, specialist consultation and routine check-ups. It is therefore imperative to build upon an individual portfolio specifically for medical expenses in order to avoid having them as an additional expense in your retirement savings. Here’s a checklist of points you need to ensure going through, before buying a health insurance.
1. Your necessities and family cover
The policy you choose should be determined basis your family’s needs. While choosing a policy, the number of family members and their respective age is crucial that needs to be taken into consideration. For a larger family size, it’s preferable to opt for a family-floater plan rather than an individual cover; this proves to be comparatively cost-effective.
2. Total Sum Insured
In the wake of medical inflation, a policy that insures a higher amount of at least Rs 8 to 10 lakhs which is sufficiently adequate to cover any medical emergency at a given point in time. As an additional benefit, you could choose a complete-protection plan that provides added features like health coaching, counseling, free health checkup-s, OPD, etc.
3. Network Hospitals
While choosing an insurer, always look out for cashless network of hospitals associated with the hospitals. In a scenario like this, during a medical emergency, the hospital settles the bill directly with the insurer. The information for this is usually available on the insurer’s website. By settling with the option of a cashless facility, it saves your effort of collating all the documents and submitting it to the insurer.
4. Product Versatility
While choosing a policy, it is always advisable to opt for products that are versatile in nature,
offering multiple features and wellness-linked packages. There are limited numbers of products
in the market that offer multiple features with personalized health counseling.
5. Insurer’s market reputation and track record
You certainly do not want to opt for an insurer with lower claim settlement that will invariably
spell trouble for you. Consequently, it’s important to consider the insurer’s financial strength and
its service record before purchasing your health insurance. Along with this, the number of years
that the insurer has been into operation, its capacity to pay out claims and growth registered by
other insurers in contrast to this is also worth considering.
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