How to Buy Health Insurance in India
What is Health Insurance:-
Generally earnings of a person will get divided to bear basic needs of living. It will be difficult to foresee health hazards; even if sighted it may be difficult to fix a particular amount as part of the earnings to medical expenses. At times a serious health hazard to the person or to any of his family member may turn into a strong blow to leave him helpless, when it comes to heavy bill payments. It will be difficult for us to even imagine ourselves to stand in such situations where we are running around to borrow money as credit. Health insurance is one policy that provides economic security in such situations. The insurance provider will bear complete or a part of medical expenses and thus freeing the policy holder from heavy bills.
Ways of purchasing health insurance:-
- Health insurance is a broad base over which there are many types and sources for providing insurance. A broad classification of few types is mentioned below.
- Even in history it is noted that, health and welfare of every citizen was a priority to monarchs. So it is not a surprise to have examples of govt. schemes that insure health of citizens of a nation. Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana in India is an example of one such scheme that is made for people ‘below poverty line’.
- Employers or administrators of a group or organization can buy health insurance for their employees/members of their organization. This fact clearly reflects the idea of ‘how every head counts when it comes to building a nation or organization’.
- An individual can also purchase a health insurance policy from govt. and private companies as well.
Criteria for choosing a policy:-
Every word of policy terms and conditions is to be read and understood before going for a particular policy. Here are few important points that you can look for while choosing a particular policy.
Policy coverage: This term refers to medical conditions under which a policy insures a person. This means a policy may not include every medical condition of a person like most of the policies in India do not include medical expenses from HIV, misuse of drugs and also injuries in riots.
Mode of bill payment and claim: This plays a major role during critical situations since certain policies may include conditions wherein the person has to bear part or complete bill expense in the first place and later on can claimed from insurer. This may also depend on the network of hospitals that come under the insurance provider.
Network of hospitals: This can be one of the major criteria since the network of hospitals an insurance company covers will give us more options and will make us feel secure during critical situations. This is because cashless claims can be made in these hospitals; the company will have authorized to treat the person while the company takes care of expenses.
Premium and other benefits covered: This makes the choice to be economical with added benefits in the basket. For ex: A condition of one of the policies offered by Apollo Munich states includes certain bonuses offered on every claim-free year.
Eligibility criteria for health insurance:-
- The person who purchases a policy must be minimum 18 years old.
- The person who is insured for the policy can be maximum 60-65 years. People who are more than 65 years old can be insured under policies for senior citizens.
- Certain policies also have a minimum limit for age of the person insured. A policy may cover insurance to people above 3-5 years of age.
Providers of Health Insurance Policy:
- The following are the popular health insurance policy providers in India
- HDFC
- ICICI
- Apollo Munich
- Maxbupa
Health insurance channels a person’s earnings and supports him during critical periods that involve considerable medical expenses. It does give one a feeling of comfort during the tough times of ill-health.
Contributed By: B C Shetty & Co |
|
Established in 1985 by Mr.Chandra Shekar Shetty, operating from 3 branches, B.C.Shetty & Co. is a firm dedicated to serving their clients with utmost transperancy by offering qualitative professional service. | |
