In a health system where medical expenses always tend to grow, health insurance is a valuable tool which can protect the individual’s finances from any adverse eventuality due to and illness. Whatever the reason, be it a sudden disease, trauma, or from underlying chronic diseases, the health care costs can be devastating. The health insurance provides financial safety nets assuring the proper treatment in the absence of high cost of care.
Why Health Insurance is Important
Health insurance is much more than simple payment assistance—it can help you to be at peace knowing you can get medical attention at the right time, without worrying about the price. Here’s why health insurance is critical:
Rising Healthcare Costs
Cost for medical service, appointment, operation, and drug are growing at an unsustainable pace growing much faster than inflation. Without Health Insurance, these cost that can erode savings and could place a person at risk of economic vulnerability.
Protection Against Unexpected Events
Accidents or unexpected diseases can occur now and even later in the most unpredictable circumstances. Medical negatives are not financially disruptive, and accidents do not result in death.
Access to Quality Healthcare
Health insurance generally provide access to a hospital, physician, and consultant provider network and provide more treatment options available to you. There are instances where, as an agreement, the insurance companies reach with the largest hospitals such that you can expect the highest quality of treatment.
Comprehensive Coverage
Insurance for health coverage includes many items of the medical bill including in-patient and surgical interventions, but also ambulatory visits (with pre- and post- hospital care fees). It’s 100%, full coverage, no credit required.
Types of Health Insurance Plans
Health insurance plans come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and these plans are all specially designed to meet specific needs. As it is possible to identify what conditions are covered, then it is possible to identify the best version for you and your family.
Individual Health Insurance
With this type of insurance, an individual medical expenditures are covered including surgical procedures, medical bills, and physician visits, etc. Ideally, you should be by yourself, or have your own separate cover from your spouse and children.
Best for: Individuals who want comprehensive medical coverage for themselves.
Features: Benefits of both cover hospital cost coverage (where applicable for pre-existing condition, with, at times, that prerequisite waiting period) and (at times) illness cost coverage (i.e., the market cost coverage).
Family Floater Plans
A family floater policy covers the entire family. Sum insured is shared by family members, so it is more economical.
Best for: Person seeking to provide health insurance to all family member, including Parents and Children under age of 18.
Features: Coverage for all family members i.e. spouse, children, parents, etc. Actually also provides also conditions e.g. Maternity leave or inoculation.
Critical Illness Insurance
This policy is targeted to resolve the high cost of serious diseases such as cancer, myocardial attack, stroke, or kidney failure. It provides a lump sum payment at the time of diagnosis, which can be utilized to cover prolonged therapies/recovery.
Best for: Individuals at higher risk of developing shared basic chronic diseases with chronic diseased exposures or familial chronic diseases of serious diseases.
Features: Covers high-cost treatments and offers a lump sum pay out.
Top-Up and Super Top-Up Plans
These are optional policies designed to complement your existing health insurance plan. They raise your coverage by attaching coverage at a higher, lower rate, but with a higher deductible.
Best for: Patients with limited health insurance, who are required to also have coverage for catastrophic medical expenses.
Features: Offers more extensive coverage as an extension of an existing policy without the need to obtain a separate and expensive policy.
Personal Accident Insurance
Medical expenses in this context are those accidental injuries or death in attendance. It is not the same as regular health insurance and has a wider coverage range.
Best for: Individuals seeking protection specifically for accidents and injuries.
Features: Hospital costs and compensation for lost work during and for disability (e.g., tangible asset compensation for disability).
Key Features to Consider When Choosing Health Insurance
During health insurance product selection process, the most critical thing is to understand the actual function and demand of health insurance product.
Sum Insured
Medical cost sum insured is the policyholder’s policy premium limit of indemnity to be paid by the insurer. Select a policy with sum insured such that it will not only cover the hospitalization costs, but also the treatment cost. A higher sum insured offers better protection.
Network Hospitals
Almost all insurers have a network of hospitals to provide them with cashless treatment facility. Do not forget to choose hospitals which are in the insurer’s network.
Pre-Existing Conditions
There is a policy consequence for a time delay before they can treat that of an established condition. If you or any family member has a prior history of disease, then check the duration of the waiting period.
Claim Process
A simple, clear, and practical claim submission process is a critical precondition for effective reimbursement management in an emergency environment. Find an insurer that provides a clear and transparent and open claims adjudication process along with a high claims settlement ratio.
Maternity Benefits
When wanting a baby, it is important to find a health insurance plan with maternity benefits- covering the hospital, ante-natal, post-natal and delivery expenses.
Lifetime Renewability
Choose a plan with lifetime renewal, providing continuous insurance coverage as you age (i.e. There are policies that could exclude coverage, such as you grow older, for example.
How Health Insurance Protects Your Financial Future
Health insurance, not only for health coverage, but also for financial safety, as it avoids massive unexpected medical bills. Here’s how it can protect your finances:
Avoid Financial Ruin: An uncompensated large medical bill can leave you in debt, to the point of saving money, taking out a loan or even to selling possessions. Insurance against all medical misfortunes is the intention of health insurance.
Tax Benefits: According to health insurance policy in India (i.e., the sum payable or payable as per the policy), deduction is allowed to be set off up to a specified ceiling . It is a highly effective tool for health, as well as for tax fraud.
Peace of Mind: Upon termination of any health problem to which one is exposed and it is (or it is not) that medical emergency which comes with a loan to cover the treatment cost the attention may be shifted towards the recovery rather than the cost problem.
Conclusion
Health insurance is a type of armour for both the body and the purse. With the cost of medical care ever increasing absolute coverage is able to protect itself and its other dependents from the excessive cost of medical care. By using analysis of health insurance and by careful selection of a health insurance plan one is not only able to ride out almost any medical storm, but also able to ride out almost any medical storm for a much lower price.
