Medical Insurance, especially in today’s day and age, is a necessity. You wouldn’t want to compromise on your health and safety just because you can’t afford it. Even a day at the hospital can impact your savings. But it is not only important to have health insurance, but also to have the right one. The market is replete with insurance providers offering you attractive deals. So, how do you choose the right one?
Here is a detailed step-by-step guide on how to choose your medical insurance plan:
Step 1: Choosing a Policy
First, you need to decide the policy type. The various types of health insurance policies available are:
1. Individual Health Insurance
An individual health insurance plan is, as the name suggests, for an individual. This insurance policy covers the medical expenses for injury and illnesses for one person.
2. Family Floater Health Insurance
A family floater health plan covers all the members of the family under one plan, and a single amount of sum insured. The sum is not divided among the family members. Instead, it floats according to the requirement.
3. Critical Illness Medical Policy
If you are diagnosed with a life-threatening disease, the Critical Illness Insurance pays you a predefined amount irrespective of the cost of treatment.
4. Senior Citizen Health Insurance
This type of health insurance plan is crafted for people above the age of 60 years.
If you go for a comprehensive individual or family floater policy, here are a few things you must keep in mind:
- Right Policy Coverage- Your health insurance plan should cover all your requirements. Your health plan should secure you and your family from a wide range of health problems. It should provide benefits such as pre and post hospitalization, day-care expenses, transportation, and hereditary illnesses. The policy must meet all the requirements of each of your family members.
- Flexibility – When choosing a family health plan, ensure that the policy allows you to add new members with ease If a senior member of your family passes away, the insurance should continue as is. You mustn’t lose any benefits due to changes in your family structure.
- Lifetime Renewability – Its always easier to buy a health insurance plan early in life. However, it gets difficult as you grow older. So, your health plan must have lifetime renewability. It ensures that you will not be stranded without a health insurance policy later in life.
- The co-payment clause – A co-payment is the amount you have to pay for your treatment as your share. The rest will be borne by the insurance company. Ensure that the co-payment along with the premiums is less
- Network Hospital– The hospital and the insurance company settle the bills amongst themselves if it is a network hospital. Choose a policy whose network hospitals are accessible to you.
Step 2: Begin Comparing
It is time to go on the internet, preferably an insurance aggregator website. You have to fill a form with your requirements, and it will guide you to a curated list according to your inputs instantly. You can take your time and check each policy and note their details. Such websites offer you to ‘compare medical insurance plans’ feature which gives you a comprehensive table containing all the details of your chosen health insurance policies. This table will show you all the benefits and shortcomings of each policy. You can finalize one from this table or start all over again if none satisfy you.
Step 3: Gather Company Information
If you have finalized one policy, it’s time to do a background check on the company. There are three things you must research:
- Claim Settlement Ratio: A higher ratio ensures that the insurance company will not wrongfully reject your claims.
- Solvency Ratio: A solvency ratio greater than 1.5 (Required by the IRDAI) ensures that the company has the funds to reimburse your claims
- Market Reputation: Check what your world is saying about the company.
If there is one health insurance plan that checks all your boxes, you must review it in detail. If all things are suitable, you can finalize this one as your health insurance plan.
