How Would You Feel, if Your Health Insurance Claim is Settled for Only 50% of Hospital Bills? Scandalized! The Feeling Will Be Even Worse Because of the Recent Steep Increase in Health Insurance Premiums Post Covid-19 Pandemic.
Yes, This is True That in the Last 18 – 24 Months, We Have Experienced a Steep Rise in Health Insurance Premiums. Especially for Senior Citizens, the Rise in Premiums Has Been as High as 100% of Last Year Premiums.
It is Unpredictable When You Would Need a Health Insurance Claim and What Would Be the Health Care Cost at That Time. Thus, You Should Choose a Policy That is Suitable to Your Needs and Expectations and Not Just on Basis of Premium Cost and Marketing Gimmick of a Premium Discount. From the Many Health and Health-related Insurance That Exists, Review and Choose Wisely a Combination That Has a Wide Health-related Risk Cover and is Also Cost-efficient.
To Simplify This Task, We Would Suggest Reviewing Your Existing/new Policies on a Few Pointers as Below –
1. Review the Cover as Per Your Needs:
Considering the Rising Cost of Health Care, Many Policyholders Would Find That the Overall Coverage on Their Existing Policy is Inadequate. Also, Over Time, It is a Wise Decision to Review Your Plan and Increase/decrease Cover Appropriately With the Change in Family Size, Income, and Current Requirements.
2. Consider Super Top Cover:
When You Feel That You Have Reasonable Total Protection for Your Family, However, You Foresee a Risk of the Cover Falling Short in Case of Multiple Simultaneous Hospitalisations or Prolonged Post Covid Complications, Then You Can Go for a Super Top-up Health Insurance Policy. In Our Experience, a Combination of Base Health Policy With a Super Top-up Plan Works Better in Keeping the Overall Premium Affordable.
E.g. Of Super Top-up Plan – if You Have a Super Top-up Plan Which Has a Total Sum Insured of Rs 20 Lakh With a Deductible of Rs 5 Lakh Then in Case of a Rs 20 Lakh Hospital Bill Your Super Top-up Plan Will Pay Rs 15 Lakh, While Your Base Plan Will Pay First Rs 5 Lakh.
3. Review the Limits:
Some of the Common Clauses That Limits Claim Pay-outs Are Room Rent Capping and Sub-limits. Barring a Few, Most of the New Health Plans With the Cover Above Rs. 5 Lakhs, Do Not Have Any Such Sub-limits in Recent Plans. However, Various Insurance Companies Were Selling Health Insurance With Sub-limits Around 6 – 7 Years Ago. Thus, if You Have Acquired Your Policy Around 6 – 7 Years Ago and Continued the Same It Would Be Recommended to Review the Terms and Conditions About Sub-limits.
Room Rent Capping Plays a Much Bigger Role in Reducing the Claim Pay-outs by a Meaningful Amount by Reducing the Entire Claim Amount Proportionate to the Cost of the Chosen Room by the Policyholder. The Situation of Going for a Higher Variant Room While Hospitalisation Could Arise Due to the Non-availability of Low-cost Rooms in Your Desired Hospital. This is Because Lower-cost Rooms Get Filled First.
If You Get Such Features in Your Policy, Then You May Upgrade to a Better Policy Within the Same Insurance Company or Port Out to a New Insurance Company. Remember That You Are Buying a Health Insurance Policy to Minimize Financial Loss in the Event of Hospitalization.
4. Check for Co-payment Clause:
It’s Usually a Common Feature in Senior Citizen Health Insurance Plans. In Higher Age Groups as the Premium Rates Are Higher, a Co-payment May Provide Some Relief in Terms of Cost, as It Helps to Keep the Premium Low. Some Plans, However, Ask for as Much as 20% Co-payment. You Need to Remember That Hospitalization Costs Are Bigger and More Frequent in Old Age and Thus Premium Cost Savings by Opting for a Policy With a Co-payment Clause May Not Be a Wise Choice.
It’s Up to You, Whether You Want to Retain Your Existing Policy With 20% Co-payment or Switch to a Better Policy. We Would Suggest You Switch to a Better Policy That Doesn’t Have a Co-payment Clause as the Cost of Hospitalization May Not Be Known in Advance and So the Financial Loss.
You Cannot Plan and Get Sick, but You Can Certainly Stay Financially Prepared for the Worst. We at Millionsworth Financial Services, Analyse Health Insurance Companies and Their Policies on Multiple Parameters Keeping Our Client’s Requirements in Mind. We Would Be Happy to Review Your Existing Policies and Share Our Findings With You. Please Write Us at support@millionsworth.com.
