Which insurance is best for health?
Best Health Insurance Plans in India 2022
Finding the best health insurance plan from so many different health insurance companies can get confusing for many people. While selecting the best health insurance policy, you must look into the various factors including health insurance riders, benefits, coverage, network hospitals etc.
Why to Buy Best Health Insurance Policy?
Needless to say, it is imperative to buy the best health insurance policy, as it helps you to keep up with the ever-soaring healthcare costs and assures you and your family of a healthy future without having to worry about the medical bills and hospitalization expense. And, when it comes to buying health insecure plan you might get confused about which plan to buy out of many.
We at Policy bazaar can help you select a top health insurance plan to meet your requirements. You can compare & select the best health plan for yourself and your family that will cover medical expenses including pre & post hospitalization expenses, day-care expenses, coronavirus treatment, critical illness hospitalization, etc. depending on your preferences.
How to Select Best Health Insurance Policy?
You cannot have one health insurance policy that meets all of your requirements. There are a number of health insurance policies that are available and each policy offers some unique coverage benefits. You need to ascertain the benefits and know what all is covered and what is excluded, and then select the best health insurance policy. You can do some online research or you can speak to our customer care team, and opt for the one that suits your requirements.
Mentioned below are a few tips that you can consider while selecting a best health insurance plan:
Choose Adequate Sum Insured Amount
Always go for the plan that offers maximum health coverage and maximum coverage amount to help you meet any medical emergency. With medical inflation, health care expenses are going up drastically and therefore, you’ll need a sufficient amount to deal with the inflation.
Today, a basic heart surgery can cost around Rs 4-5 Lakh and for a middle-class family this amount is quite huge. Therefore, make sure that you choose an adequate coverage amount to ensure financial security to meet future financial emergencies.
Choose the Right Coverage Type
Individual health plans are designed keeping the needs of an individual in mind. However, if you have more members in your family, we will advise to buy a family floater plan, which covers your entire family. This way you aren’t required to buy a separate policy for each member and can keep their health secured.
The premium is also lesser as compared to individual plans and the sum assured is higher. Most importantly, anyone can utilise the amount during a medical treatment. Also, you can cover your senior citizen parents as well by paying a slightly higher premium.
Check the Flexibility to Increase the Total Amount You Are Insured For
The cost of living fluctuates every year and so does the cost of medical treatment. Most of the insurance companies have the provision to increase the sum insured over the time. At times, when you renew your policy timely and have No-Claim-Bonus benefit on your current plan, then your insurer might reward you by increasing the total amount of sum insured.
Check the Pre-existing Disease Waiting Period
Every health insurance plan has its own set of terms and conditions regarding pre-existing diseases. It means if you have any disease prior to taking a plan, the claim made for taking treatment against that illness will be accepted after the insured serves a defined waiting period.
In most cases the waiting period ranges anywhere from 2-4 years, however, some best plans have a lesser waiting period like media claim policy. While purchasing a health policy, you should opt for the one with a lesser waiting period.
Check the Maximum Renewal Age
Policy renewal is one of the most important aspects when selecting a health insurance policy for your family. Most of the health insurance companies allow policy renewal until the age of 65 years only. But there are certain policies, which offer lifelong health insurance renewal lifelong renewal facility. You should pick the most appropriate one for yourself based on your family health history and other health parameters.
Insurer with High Claim-settlement Ratio
Claim settlement ratio is the number of claims settled by the insurer over the total claims it receives. Always opt for a health plan from an insurer that has a high claim settlement ratio. This way you will ensure that your claim will not be rejected until the insurer has a valid excuse. However, you should be careful at the time filing a claim. Make sure you’ve attached all the relevant documents and proofs supporting your claim.
Smooth Claim Settlement Process
Mostly the claim-settlement process is similar for all insurance companies (as instructed by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority); there might be minor changes due to some difference in the company’s functionality. It is advisable that you understand both cashless and reimbursement claim settlement process of your health insurance provider before purchasing the policy.
Cashless Hospitalization
With health insurance, you are entitled to treatments hospitals which are a group of hospitals associated with a particular insurer. Almost every health insurance company provides cashless hospitalization, saving you from the trouble of running from pillar to post for document collection and filling it. This facility is applicable in their network hospitals only.
Cashless hospitalization simplifies the claim settlement process and makes it a hassle-free task for the policyholder. Then again, it is advisable to cross-check the list of the hospitals that are included in the list, before making the claim.
Don’t Forget to Compare Premium
It is essential to compare the plans as well as the premium. There are many online aggregators that, help you compare the insurance policies in terms of benefits, features, premiums, maximum returns, etc.; picking a plan without weighing all the options available in the market is like inviting regret. By comparing the plans you can avail all the benefits at a comparatively cheaper premium rate.
Check the Reviews
Customer reviews of different health insurance companies are essential when it comes to purchasing medical insurance online. Reviews are always a mixture of negative and positive opinions which highlight the relevant pros and cons. This will help you take a firm and informed decision.
Read the Exclusions
Most of the policyholders ignore the limitations of exclusion in a health insurance policy and end up experiencing something unexpected. If a plan covers something, it is equally entitled to not cover some illnesses, like some plans that exclude Hernia, Cataract, Sinusitis, Gastric, Joint Replacement etc. in the initial period. While some others exclude expenses incurred on dental treatment, HIV/AIDS, eye-related healthcare, STD, cosmetic surgery etc. You should choose a health plan with fewer exclusions.
Add-on Rider/Critical Illness Rider/Accidental Rider
With a critical illness rider, you ensure that your financial planning would not get disturbed if any unplanned medical expense arises. Critical illness cover is a rider benefit that you can avail by paying an extra premium. In return, you can avail health coverage against life-threatening diseases such as cancer, kidney failure, tumor, etc.
