Important Factors to Consider While Deciding a Health Insurance Plan
Prevention is better than cure, they say, and same goes true for your medical needs. You don’t know when an illness may become severe and lead to hospitalization. The only precaution you can take is to keep yourself and your family protected under the coverage of a good health insurance policy. The cost of medical bills has risen drastically in past few decades. You will be alarmed by finding out how much just a few days hospitalization amounts to. In some cases, it may even leave you bankrupt. The only way to deal with such situation is to invest in a good health insurance plan so that you don’t get adversely affected by the financial crisis when unfortunately any such condition comes.

First, let us get to know why you need a health insurance plan.
ü It protects you against unpredictable medical expenses.
ü Covers you from high as well as exponentially rising medical cost.
ü The benefits of a health insurance plan come in low premium.
ü It helps you make a better financial plan.
Though, when it comes to choosing a health insurance policy by a good health insurance company, you will be surrounded by end number of options that may baffle you. To help you here, we have some tips for choosing an ideal plan for yourself and your family.
Basic criteria
First of all, your health insurance policy must fulfill your all healthcare needs ensuring a solid financial planning. The policy should cover three types of medical emergencies — 1) Hospitalization due to any medical emergency 2) Surgery 3) Treatment for critical illness. Any health insurance policy that offers a lump sum benefit to combat these situations will enable you to face any medical emergency without any financial crisis.
Add-ons
How you create the right safety umbrella for your family entirely depends on you. Therefore a good health insurance plan should allow you to do so by choosing different protection options as well as the coverage amount for each option. A plan should be customizable regarding hospitalization cover, critical care treatment, reimbursement for surgeries, etc.
Ins and outs
Hospitalization, with the exception of serious surgeries or critical therapies, doesn’t result in huge expenses — a fact many people may not have been aware if they have not availed medical services in recent time. So, very high coverage for hospitalization for a short duration unnecessarily increases the premium amount with no real advantages. A lump-sum payment where 1–2% of the sum is reserved for everyday hospitalization charges is a much better option to go through the situation with ease.
Surgery
When it comes to surgery, it is better to increase the coverage as much as you can. So choosing a plan covering a maximum number of surgeries with different coverage options (depending on the seriousness of ailment) makes the right sense of balance between cost and coverage. Though the coverage amount for surgeries varies, some major surgeries must offer you 100% of the sum assured as lump sum, like organ transplants.
Critical illness
Critical illness cover must be broad enough to make you utilize 100% of the sum assured for such treatments. So, choose a plan which has been designed for real protection for major conditions like Cancer, Lung Disease, Paralysis, Loss of eyesight, (irrespective of the nature of the claim).
Customization
A plan should enable you to customize the amount of coverage to cater to your needs. If your family history or your lifestyle increases the risk of any critical disease, you must opt for maximum coverage for such ailments. In such case, you should be free to choose a lower sum for hospitalization or surgery; instead, you need a plan that let you design your comprehensive protection by selecting the right amount of coverage.
Besides, the plan must let you decide the percentage of sum assured to allocate different coverage options. There is no sense in investing in a policy of 4 Lakh for hospitalization cover alone. A plan that lets you allocate 30% of the cover for OPD costs, the remaining for critical illness treatment and so on will let you make most of your health plan and investment.
Right sum
The right amount for any health insurance plan mostly depends on your age as well as marital status. While you are young, there are less prone to illness. However, if you are older and have crossed the age of 40, the risks of your getting ill are higher. Plus, when you get married, your policy should offer coverage to your spouse, and in such case, you may need to increase the sum. In all such conditions, the right amount matters.
Low waiting period
Most of the insurance policy covers a pre-existing disease between 24 to 48 months and for general illness, this waiting period lasts from 30–90 days. If you are choosing a health plan in early age, there is no problem. However, if you are above the age of 40, this waiting period may ruin your whole health insurance planning. In such condition, you may consider a plan having a lower period of the pre-existing disease.
Renewal
There are chances that you don’t need a health insurance when you are young. However, when you get older, the chances become higher. So, choose a health insurance plan that can be renewed to an age of 70 or 75 years.
Sub-limits
Many health policies come with sub-limits on per day expense or room rent etc. While considering a health plan, make sure that your policy offers the highest room rent or other payment. It would prevent you pay extra costs from your pocket.
There is no doubt that you need a health insurance plan. However, choosing a plan may be challenging and confusing. Anybody would want to make most out of a plan, and in such case, one needs to consider a lot of factors. Choose the best plan that can cater to your medical needs and make a wise decision.