Why Should You Compare Health Insurance Policies Before Buying?

Medical inflation is rising at an unprecedented rate and therefore, it makes sense to compare health insurance policies beforehand to ensure that the policy you intend to buy is in sync with the current situation.

A sudden hospitalization or illness can cause a hole in your pocket, leaving you with no option but to dip into your savings. However, if you have a health insurance policy, you can easily tide over medical expenses. A comprehensive insurance policy ensures you get the best treatment without worrying about hefty medical expenses.

Benefits of comparing health insurance policies

Before buying one policy over another, it is imperative to compare health insurance policies to ensure you choose the right one. Sometimes you end up buying a Mediclaim policy which costs less but doesn’t offer comprehensive coverage. Or you pay a hefty premium on a health insurance policy only to realize later that you could have bought a different policy because you never required frills in your insurance plan.

Mainly, health insurance policies can be divided into the following two broad categories:

1. Indemnity: These policies compensate the policyholder for the actual medical expenses incurred, even if the sum insured is higher than the amount. Some of the major benefits offered by the policy are pre & post hospitalization cover, emergency ambulance, day care procedure coverage and maternity benefits.
Following are the types of indemnity policies:

• Individual health insurance plan: It is a plan which insures an individual against rising medical expenses and offers coverage for in-patient treatment, pre & post hospitalization expenses, and other major expenses. It covers hospitalisation expenses till the cover limit, which is also called the sum insured. As most of the plans come without any limit on entry age, they are apt for senior citizens also. With increasing age, the human body becomes more susceptible to ailments. These individual health insurance plans offer complete coverage to senior citizens also.

• Family floater health insurance plan: It is an insurance policy which covers the entire family under one single plan. For instance, if the total sum insured is Rs. 10 lakhs, then the entire amount can be used to treat either one insured member or can be divided among all insured members. Though most of the family health insurance policies consider spouse and kids as a family; there are some policies which also cover in-laws and siblings.

2. Lump-sum benefit plan: The entire sum insured is paid on the occurrence of the insured events during the policy tenure. It includes the following policy:

• Critical illness insurance policies: Critical illness insurance gives a lump sum benefit amount on the first diagnosis of any of the critical illnesses listed in the policy document, like cancer, stroke, kidney failure, heart attack, etc.

Besides medical expenses, there are other expenses also, like household expenditure, loan EMIs, children school fees, etc.; which are affected in case the breadwinner gets hospitalised or loses a job due to the severity of the illness. Acting as an income replacement, the insurance amount can be used to pay medical expenses and any other household expenditure.

Further, all the above-listed policies enjoy tax benefits under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act. Almost every health insurer is offering a premium calculator to help buyers ascertain how much they need to pay towards premium.

Conclusion

Health insurance is meant to take care of your loved ones and you against medical inflation. So before zeroing in on one policy, it is necessary to compare health insurance policies in order to get the right coverage. Both fast and convenient, a comparison can help even those with limited time in finding the apt coverage and benefits.

Be prudent and don’t forget to compare health insurance policies, as after all, it is all about the health of your family!