Things no one told you about Health Insurance

You spend 17280 a day for your health! We're not talking about money though, but about something even more precious, your breath. An average human takes 12 breaths a minute and 17280 a day. That's huge work! Good job!

As we don't even realize that breath, we may not realize the value of it. Just like how we don’t understand the value of a sound and healthy life. Most of us we're talking about here, not the ones who do live life mindfully, making every breath count.

Yes, life is valuable, and you got it right, we're insurance after all. So somehow, we'll get to protection and insurance.

Bingo, we are talking about something very essential that its bigger than you or us, it's about your health, your life, your happiness and of course health insurance plans follows.

And because we are going to launch our health insurance plans soon, we thought we should start with simplifying the understanding of health insurance there as well, Back to Basics?

We try to keep our ears as close to our customers as possible. And while we were talking to them to know more about what we can offer, we realized that health insurance has many myths waiting to be busted, so many grey areas that are waiting to see the light of the simplification.

And we thought it is only fair that we straighten the knots, even before our health insurance plan is up and running, so you can choose the best health insurance plan for your family.

So, let’s start with things you should know about a health insurance plan that need your attention before you choose one.

What is the right age to buy a health insurance plan?

Everybody believes that they are fit and will be so, forever. Even if age starts catching up with them, people believe that they need to start worrying about health only after they reach 50.

However, that’s not what research tells us.

Statistics reveal that 15% - 20% of heart attack patients are between 25 to 35 years.

That’s not only shocking, but also super scary. So, if you ask us, our answer is take a health insurance plan as early in life as possible. Owing to the kind of lifestyle and work pressure young people have today, the likelihood of diseases and unfortunate medical conditions have drastically increased.

Starting early also has the benefit of lower premiums.

The lower the age, the lower is the premium. So, you get a comprehensive cover for a much lesser price if you start early, since the risk is lower too.

What’s more, when you take a health insurance plan, you have a waiting period for some time for coverage to kick in.

Starting early helps you to endure the waiting period and get active covers when you actually need them.

Is only a corporate health insurance plan enough for me?

We are often satisfied with the health insurance plan that is provided by our company. But do we ever ask if it is enough?

The answer is, often it is not. The cover is standardized for all employees, and it is not customized according to your individual needs. Hence, there are high chances that you might be under-insured.

What are the factors on which the Cover or Sum Insured in a health insurance plan is dependent on?

The factors on which your Sum Insured should be decided on are:

• Age: A lot of people think that younger people don't need a high sum insured but what they don't realize is that an unexpected illness or accident, can happen to anyone, at any age. Also taking a health insurance plan at a younger age is beneficial as it has lower premiums and most of the waiting periods are lower.

• Life stage: People should plan the sum insured of their health insurance plan basis their lifestage i.e. are they about to get married, are they planning a kid etc...

• No. of dependents in the family: Higher the dependents, more should be the sum insured in a health insurance policy. But a lot of people think that a health insurance policy should only be there for the chief wage earner of the family but that is a misconception. Insuring all the members of the family under a health insurance policy is a wiser way to protect your family against future financial risks related to high medical costs. 

• Health conditions: If there is a hereditary disease in the family or a common health condition seen rising in the city the person is staying, it is even more important to firstly have a continuing health insurance policy and secondly to have a sum insured enough to cover the insured in case of a hospitalization or treatment.

• Lifestyle: This is a highly ignored but an important aspect to be looked at in today's day and age from a health insurance plan point of view. Imagine this, a person living in a metro, toiling with traffic then with office stress and a sendentary lifestyle is at a higher risk of falling ill than a person who is in the a non-polluted town, probably owning a yoga centre. While life is not always in extremes but you get the point? 

Only after factoring all of these, should you select a Sum Insured that can adequately cover you and help you in tough times.

With a corporate plan, that is usually not the case – it can leave you high and dry when you have left the job or are on a sabbatical.

The moment you leave your job, your corporate health insurance plan ceases to protect you. If anything, unfortunate happens by the time you join your new company, you are left vulnerable.

So, it is advisable to take a personal health insurance plan parallelly even if you have a corporate plan. Or at least have a top up plan, so when the base cover ceases to cover you, the top plan still has your back.

Is it enough to take health insurance plan for tax savings?

We know how crucial the months of January, February and March are. It’s the months where you try to maximise tax savings – a health insurance plan is hurriedly bought at this time.

But the mistake that people usually make is that they take a plan which fits only one requirement: to fill the gap in their tax saving calculations. Another time when people do not wisely select their Sum Insured!

Taking a health insurance policy only for tax savings is not only pointless but also not useful during emergencies – especially, in situations where hospitalisation exceeds what you can otherwise manage. So, instead of just looking at it as a tax saving instrument, we should look at it as a cover for emergencies, since sometimes, banking on our savings alone might not suffice.

What are the benefits I should look at?

It is always advisable to look for a comprehensive health insurance plan which has benefits tailored to your needs. Evaluate benefits based on your life stage and family phase, and what is apt for you at that phase and the comparative cost of one over the other.

For instance, an annual health check-up is hygiene for any health insurance policy. But if a policy doesn’t have it, we shouldn’t completely take it out of our selection list. We should see if it has other benefits which might be more relevant in terms of cost, like an OPD cover.

To sum it up, you should choose a plan that has benefits relevant to your needs and not just get swayed away by just the frill benefits.

Why do I need a health insurance policy?

Life doesn’t always go as per plan, you don’t plan to get unwell or hospitalized. But the whole point of having a health insurance policy is to protect you
in these times.

• Health insurance policy protects your savings against unplanned medical costs.
• Health insurance policy comes to your rescue in case of an illness or accident.
• Your health insurance policy may also have benefits like a free annual health check-up and benefits like OPD (Out-patient department) benefit, Day-care treatment etc… which don’t even need hospitalization.
• If you start a health insurance policy at a young age, the insurance premiums are lower and you cross the waiting period while you are still in good health.
• If you have taken a health insurance policy for your family, you secure them against unfortunate times and your savings against a big dent.

Do you want to know more information about the health insurance companies in pa then please contact us in the comment section and send your queries.