Tuesday, 1 April 2014

Health Insurance Benefits: What is the Right Way to Compare?

According to a report by the World Health Insurance, 86% of the expenditure made for private health services in India has been paid out of pockets! Health insurance benefits have had no role to play! And this comes as no surprise considering that 85% of the population still remains uninsured! However, this does not mean that the healthcare insurance sector has not developed in India.

Today, you have several interesting options to choose from. Naturally, comparing medical insurance benefits would become essential for making the right choices. What is the right way to compare? Which are the medical plan benefits that need to be prioritized? The article attempts to find some answers.

Comparing Health Insurance Benefits Right

Of course, any health policy would offer some benefits. However, it is important to figure out the benefits that would more relevant for you. Here are some essential benefits to look for in a policy.

•    The Maximum Age Limit for Policy Renewal:
This is the age at which your policy would cease to be in effect. It is like, once you reach a certain age limit, your policy provider leaves you alone! Whereas some companies peg the age at 75 or 80 years, others offer lifetime renewal benefits. The latter is always better.

•    Treatment Wise and Co-Pay Limits: Treatment Wise limits would mean the amount caps that would be in place for a particular nature of surgery. For instance, limits would be in place for cardiac procedures, renal procedures and so on. So, a claim exceeding this amount will not be honored, even though your sum assured may be much more. This would be an extremely important health insurance benefit to look at before choosing a policy. Co-pay is where you share the expenses incurred for a certain nature of treatment, with your insurance company. The co-payment limits could be as low as 10% and as high as 50% in some cases. The lower the percentage, the better.

•    The Sum Assured: Dwelling on the sum assured is possibly the most important thing. Remember, you would need to factor in inflation as well before deciding upon the sum that would be adequate for taking care of the medical needs of you and your family. Although you can always opt for a premium upgrade, its best to choose a comprehensive medical insurance benefit cover right at the outset.

Apart from assessing health insurance benefits you would also have to read through the policy document carefully before you choose.




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