How to find the BEST Health Insurance Policy?🔎 Part-1
Hey friends,
This is a three-part series. Within a couple of weeks, you will get parts 2 and 3 respectively.
There are different types of health insurance policies available on the market today. It can be difficult to decide which one is best for you.
We’ll break down everything related to health insurance into simple terms.
Before you purchase health insurance, ask yourself the following questions:
#1. Is it better to take health insurance with your parents or separately?
It should ideally be separate. Your premium will be much higher if you choose a combination plan with your parents rather than an individual plan.
So, choose a combined plan for your parents (you can include your siblings here).
And an individual plan for yourself, then add your spouse and children to your plan shortly.
#2. What should be your policy’s base coverage be?
That would depend on the number of hospitalization days.
If you are below 40 and are healthy, the hospitalization days should be 15–20 days. For 40 and above assuming it to be 30 days.
The number of hospitalization days should be multiplied by the cost per day in ICU (Link for ICU charges in India).
For example, let’s assume a 23-year-old was admitted to the ICU. The average per day cost in ICU is approximately 15,000/- (On average it is 10,000/-)in Hyderabad.
So the base coverage should be approximately Rs. 4-5 Lakhs for adults, and Rs. 2 Lakhs for kids below 10 years.
And the same math applies to parents so approximately it would be Rs. 6-7 Lakhs.
Or Simply take the average cost of heart surgery in your area, which should be the ideal base coverage of the insurance.
#3. Why do I need to take out personal health insurance since my company provides me with one?
Let’s assume some different scenarios.
1. The company decides to withdraw the insurance benefit.
2. An employee decides to change companies, but the new company doesn’t offer that benefit.
3. A person leaves a job for personal reasons, including health.
4. A person is terminated from a job, leading to job loss.
5. Retirement.
The above instances will occur in your lifetime, so to have a piece of mind, it is always good to have personal health insurance rather than depending on the company’s insurance.
The insurance provided by the company has different clauses and cap limits per person which are not suited to every individual’s needs or circumstances.
Biggest Myth around Health Insurance
You cannot use two insurance plans when you are hospitalized.
No, you can use two different types of insurance. But only one of them can be cashless payment; this is when personal health insurance comes in handy.
Assume you have personal health insurance with a base coverage of Rs. 5 lakhs and company health insurance with a coverage of Rs. 3 lakhs.
You met with an accident that cost you Rs. 7.5 lakhs. So you can use your personal health insurance to make a cashless payment for Rs. 5 lakh, and the remaining amount of Rs. 2.5 lakhs must be paid in cash.
You can claim the amount you paid in cash with your company’s insurance by submitting the bills.
These are the question you need to ask yourself before buying insurance. Next week we will break down all the terms of a health insurance policy and will make a list of things that are specific to your needs.
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Until then….
Take care! Ba bye👋
Abhinay Signing off!
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