Health Plans:
As we say that “Health is Wealth” and we cant agree more on this. In today’s environment where science and technology has made immense development in healthcare segment, the risks and hazards to health have also grown many fold. Under these circumstances, it is virtually mandatory to have Health Insurance Plans not only for yourself but for your family as well which can include spouse, children and parents also. There are various products available to cover this risk and are broadly categorized into Family Floater Plans, Senior Citizen Plans and Specific Pre Existing Disease Plans.
Family Floater Plans:
The customer has the option to get a medical insurance coverage for the entire family under one policy, which in general parlance is called Family Floater Cover. Under this mechanism, you buy a single policy, which covers your family for a pre-defined sum insured.
The insurance companies have made tie ups with various hospitals, nursing homes which are called network hospitals. Where treatment is availed under network hospitals, the insurance company makes the payment to hospital directly and these are called cashless schemes. However, at times, it might not be possible to get treatment under network hospital. In those cases, you make the payment to hospital and then raise a claim on insurance company and they reimburse it.
Hence, this becomes a very important criterion while choosing the insurance company as at times, the treatment is really expensive and making payment on your own might not be a comfortable situation.
Besides this, the coverages under the plan such as pre and post hospitalization expenses, domiciliary hospitalization, hospital daily allowance, OPD cover, ambulance charges, maternity benefits, free medical check ups, recharge and restore options, bonus for no claim year etc. are other important factors.
Last but not the least, the premium amount is equally important while deciding between various suitable plans.
Senior Citizen Plans:
The health parameters are expected to deteriorate with the increasing age and hence the health insurance cover assumes highest significance. It is imperative to have this cover so to avoid the heavy dent that treatment at this age can make on your financial reserves.
The entry age for health plans varies from company to company and ideally one should have continuous cover to have maximum benefits. Generally, the health plans for senior citizen comes with co-pay clauses (which means that pre-defined share of the claim will be contributed by the person insured). Though there are plans available which does not enforce this clause but then the premium can be higher. So, it’s a trade off and have to be decided judiciously.
Specific Pre Existing Disease:
There are few diseases which are critical in nature but not necessarily life threatening or where one can live a normal life though with regular medication. However, the complications can increase over a period of time depending upon various factors and these existing disease can adversely affect the treatment for other injuries / treatment of other diseases. In other words, the risk quotient for the person’s life is higher than normal.
There are few plans which cover these risks related to diabetics, heart related disease etc.
Group Health Insurance:
Group Health Insurance is a insurance that covers a group of people. A group of people can be employees of an organization, members of a professional set up etc. The rising cost of health care has made companies opting for this cover as not this takes care of financial burden at relatively lower cost compared to an individual plan but it also offers it to attract good talent and retain it. The Group Health Insurance is a customized solution and features which are generally not part of individual plan or have certain waiting / exclusion period can also be covered here.
Following can be listed as key benefits of Group Health Insurance:
It can cover employees, their spouse, dependent children and parents
It can cover employees, their spouse, dependent children and parents
It can cover employees, their spouse, dependent children and parents
It can cover employees, their spouse, dependent children and parents
While an employee might be having coverage under the Group Medical Insurance, he/she still might need additional cover as cover offered under Group Medical might not be sufficient. In these cases, it is advised to opt for Top Up Covers (Hyper link / flash on screen) as they come very cheap as against stand alone health insurance plans.
Top Up Covers
A Top Up Cover is an additional cover over and above existing individual / group plans and it is utilized for reimbursement of expenses arising out of illness beyond the coverage provided under individual / group cover.