Gift yourself and family with a health insurance on this World Health Day

The World is experiencing rapid changes in the medical field which is contributing to the increased life expectancy. On the other hand, modernization, changing lifestyle and industrialization is leading to new challenges which is increasing the chance of suffering from multiple conditions. Most of the conditions we have today were very common in our previous generations. As a matter of fact, we were able to eliminate far less diseases or illnesses compared to the new ones that are taking over. For example, diabetes, thyroid, hypertension were very uncommon for our ancestors, but today even a small child could be seen suffering from these conditions. 

To tackle these issues and raise awareness among the people, the World Health Organisation has declared April 7th of every year as World Health Day. WHO comes out with an unique theme for every World Health Day and the theme for this year is “My Health, My Right”. This year’s theme was chosen in such a way that it reflects the basic things that need to be addressed by everyone and champions for quality health services, education, clean drinking water, information, good nutrition, safe air, quality housing, freedom from discrimination and decent working and environmental conditions. 

What else could be a better gift to yourself and your family, other than a family health insurance plan this World Health Day. This April 7th, we encourage you to take your health into your own hands as your right by insuring yourself with a health insurance policy. Here are few things to consider before taking a family health insurance policy:- 

Things to consider while taking family health insurance:

Sum Insured: 

The most important thing to consider before taking a family health insurance policy is to decide on the sum insured. Sum insured in turn should be decided based on the number of members insured under the policy. Higher number of members means that the sum insured should be higher as the health insurance sum insured reduces after a claim is made. Sum insured should also be decided keeping in mind the age and health condition of the family members. It is a well known fact that as the age increases, the chance of hospitalization increases and to counter this you would need an adequate sum insured. 

Type of Policy: 

The other important thing to consider before taking a family health insurance policy is the type of policy. By type of policy, we mean family floater or non-floater policy. Family floater health insurance refers to a common sum insured that can be utilized by any of the family members as the sum insured would be floating among the family members. On the other hand, non-floating policy is where each individual would have an individual sum insured that could be utilized only by them. Each one has its own merits and should be decided based on your requirements. 

Deductibles & Co-pay: 

Deductible refers to the amount that would be deducted by the insurance company at the time of claim settlement. Deductible is usually given as a percentage of the sum insured or a fixed amount in a health insurance policy. Deductible is of two types- Compulsory and Voluntary. Compulsory deductible would be applicable irrespective of the sum insured, policy type and insurance company. On the other hand, voluntary deductible is over and above the compulsory deductible and has to be chosen by the insured customer. Higher deductible leads to reduction in premium but also increases the responsibility on the insured at the time of claim settlement. 

An advanced version of deductible is the co-payment under a health insurance plan. Co-pay can be chosen anywhere between 10-30% and works similar to that of a deductible. In case of claim settlement, first the co-payment has to be settled by the insured customer after which the remaining amount would be settled by the insurance company. 

Super Top-Up:

When taking a personal family health insurance one should always remember to top it up with a super top-up plan. If we consider a pizza, base would be the personal health insurance plans and toppings would be the super top-up policy. We need toppings on a pizza to make it attractive for consumption, in a similar way, we need super top-up policy to make base personal health insurance policy attractive. 

A super top-up policy could be considered as an extension of the base health insurance plan, in which the super top-up would be activated after the base sum insured is exhausted. In general, the deductible in super top-up would be higher so that it matches with the basic personal health insurance sum insured. For example, let us assume that you have taken a personal health insurance policy for Rs.10 Lakhs and intend to purchase a super top-up policy. The super top-up policy could be of Rs.1 Crore sum insured and should not have a deductible more than the base policy sum insured i.e. Rs.10 lakhs in this case. In this way, you may extract maximum value from your family health insurance policy. 

Global Coverage: 

The World is becoming globalized with every passing day and people are moving from one place to another with ease. Keeping this in mind, insurance companies have launched global cover in their health insurance plans. Global cover allows you to make a claim in your health insurance policy anywhere in the World and it would be useful if you are frequently traveling to a foreign location. 

Assume that your children are residing in the U.S.A and you stay with them for at least 6 months in a year. In such scenarios, you would need a health insurance policy that covers your hospitalization expenses in the U.S.A. It is to be noted that a health insurance policy purchased in India with global cover would be cheaper than a health insurance policy purchased in the U.S.A.

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