Health Insurance

Now a days  no doubt that medical insurance are burning a deep hole in our pocket. Given our lifestyle changes and food habits we get sick quite often and it becomes essential to take a health insurance. There are certain myths in taking Health insurance like

I am healthy now, so it is not necessary to take a health insurance now : How about getting a chest pain all of a sudden and you come to know that the waiting period for pre existing coverage is about 3 years? 

I have a health insurance policy with my company so i don't need to take one: oh ya this one is tricky let us see what will we do if   

• The company do away with its insurance policy as per the latest revamp in their financial policy?
• How about a sudden increase in premium because your colleagues claims have increased dramatically?
• How about leaving your job and becoming an entrepreneur at age of 40? what happens to your history of no claim and your per-existing disease? how about the premium at the age of 40?
• Disease comes uninformed, how about you quitting your company on Friday and getting a chest pain on Sunday?
• Already we are dependent on our company for our salary, how about being dependent on the company for your health?

Being said that, there are few things you should understand while you take your medical insurance

Cashless treatment: Check whether the insurance provider is offering a cashless treatment. It is extremely important since most of us cant afford couple of lakhs out of the pocket immediately.

Network Hospitals: Check the list of supported hospitals. There may be hundreds but think whether it is nearer to your place of working/living (Don't want your attender to spend a fortune on lodging right?) , whether you are comfortable with the hospital (5 star hospitals which charges much beyond your cover?), etc.

Co Pay: Some insurance have a concept of co-pay. It is like this assuming that they are having copay of 10% it means if your hospital bill is 1,00,000, with all those capping the eligible amount may be 85,000 then you may need to bear 8500 (10% of 85000 co-Pay) + 15,000. Get an insurance without co pay.

Loading: Similar to Co Pay some insurance company charges loading. If the loading is 10% and in one year you have claimed insurance the next year premium will go up by 10%. Get an insurance without loading.

No Claim Bonus: Get an insurance with no claim bonus, it means if you have claim free period either your premium will come down or your cover will get increased without any increase in premium. 

Pre Existing Disease: See how long is the waiting period for pre existing disease coverage, choose one which is lower.

Renewal: Opt for one which provides life long renewal option.

Room Expense: some insurance provider will give you room expense only if you are sharing the room or there might be a cap on room expense. 

All said, I believe education and health care should be states responsibility. Because a life threatening disease will erode your wealth accumulated over 2 generations.

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