How to Choose the Most Suitable Health Insurance Plan for Your Family

Health insurance is something that is no longer a luxury available to a select few. With the rise in the price of medical expenses and rise in illness due to high-pressure jobs, having a good family health insurance plan is imperative. Even though people are aware of the benefits of getting health insurance, many still consider it only as a tax saving instrument.

Most workplaces today offer health insurance to their employees, but it could be insufficient. People get lazy and tend not to buy another insurance plan thinking the one the organisation offers is enough.

But what happens when you leave the organisation? When you leave your workplace, your health insurance will no longer be valid. Which is why having a separate insurance plan for you and your entire family is important.

Benefits of having a Family Health Insurance Plan

Let’s start with the basics. Here are the advantages of having health insurance for your entire family:

  • It prepares you for any unplanned medical expenditure. Diseases and illness have a bad habit of coming unannounced. If you rely only on savings, it will drain up your bank account. It is only wise to have health insurance.
  • It will cover all medical expenses, hospitalisation costs, doctor consultation fees, drug costs and all other fees.
  • One plan will help cover all the members of your family. You no longer have to maintain multiple health policies.
  • Since you only have one plan for the entire family, you save on costs. The costs needed to maintain multiple health plans will be far greater than having one single plan.
  • It is flexible in nature as compared to an individual health insurance plan. You could opt to use all the benefits of the family health insurance plan for one family member.
  • The last and most obvious reason to get health insurance is to avail of the tax benefits. Tax benefits of having insurance can be availed off under section 80D.

So you have decided to take a family health insurance plan, but you don’t know how to go about it. You can follow the following tips to buy the best health plan in the market.

Coverage: Pay attention to the coverage the plan offers. An ideal health insurance plan should offer the maximum health coverage and maximum amount possible for treatment. With the increase in prices of medical treatments and medicines getting more and more expensive, this is an important parameter.

Sum insured: Care should be taken to choose the sum insured precisely. If you are young, the health risk is obviously less but this will change as you grow older. Elderly people tend to be more prone to illnesses as compared to young people. This is why the sum insured of the health plan should be taken after consideration of the individual’s and the family’s health.

Minimum waiting period: All insurance plans have their own terms and conditions. One such important term to keep in mind is the waiting period. The waiting period is a period of time which has to elapse for you to make a claim. It can range from 2 to 4 years. Some plans, however, do have a smaller waiting period. An in-depth analysis must be done to get knowledge of all the waiting periods before deciding on a plan.

Maximum age renewal: You might not need to make a claim on your insurance immediately, but over the years, as you grow older, you might need to. The possibility of getting health issues increase as you age. Take a plan whose renewal age is quite high.

Cashless option: Many insurance companies offer a cashless option, which means that all the bills are settled by the insurance company directly for the treatment that you availed of. This is one feature that will certainly come in handy when you need it. With all the stress of falling sick, if the insurance can be cashless, then all the better.

Sub-limits in the plan: Many insurance plans have sub-limits on them. Sub-limits refer to a cap on the reimbursement limit. Like, there could be a sub-limit on room rent at 1 per cent of the sum insured. So one might still end up paying out of pocket if they cross the limit.

Pre-existing ailments: Most family health insurance plans cover pre-existing illnesses one might have. Here pre-existing illnesses are illnesses that the insured has before they took out the insurance. Usually, after a period of around 36 months to 48 months has passed, your ailment will be covered by the insurance. It is important when you are buying the insurance to discuss any pre-existing ailments to ensure a smooth process of making a claim.

Check if there is any co-payment feature: Co-payment refers to a fixed amount of money that the policyholder has to pay on his own for the medical expenses, and the insurance covers the rest. In health insurance for the elderly, having a co-payment feature would mean that the premium rates are higher and the insurance is cheaper as a whole.  But some insurances ask for 20 per cent as co-payment, which is very high.

Indemnity cover: Indemnity plans are also called ’fee-for-service’ plans. This means that you go to the doctor of your choice and get your preferred treatment. The insurance company then approves the total charges. Having an indemnity cover will not limit your insurance plan.

Conclusion:

Now that you know what to look for in a good insurance plan, the next step is to research thoroughly. Thankfully there are a number of resources online today that will help do just that. Be sure to take your time to compare all the available plans. People often leave reviews at websites dedicated to insurance. Read through the ratings and reviews carefully. Try not to base your decision only on the premium. The lesser the terms and conditions a plan has the better.