It can be quite complicated and overwhelming to choose the best health insurance plan for yourself or your loved ones due to the availability of different health insurance plans and the cost variations. You may also need to go through various policy types, features, inclusions, and limitations and buy health insurance online that severs your needs.
Eventually, we all want to buy a health insurance plan that offers maximum coverage. So, it is crucial to be well-informed before making a decision, no matter how daunting it may sound. Unfortunately, to avoid hassles and time constraints, some people opt for health insurance plans without knowing if they would be adequate for them or not.
We have prepared the underlying six health insurance comparison tips to choose the best health insurance plan for yourself and your family members.
Policy Coverage
It is wise to compare insurance plans and select one that offers to cover a wide range of medical problems, pre and post-hospitalizations, ambulance charges, critical illness, maternity benefits, daily hospitalization cash benefits, in-patient hospitalizations, and more. If you want to buy a health insurance plan for your family, ensure that it caters to their needs.
While comparing insurance plans, always consider your needs, check out each plan’s policy features and limitations. There can also be hidden factors like sub-limits and waiting periods that you should not miss. So, carefully and thoroughly go through policy wordings for all the terms and conditions. It prevents all issues raised at the time of the claim.
Flexibility to add new family members
While exploring your options to buy health insurance online for your family, you must choose a plan that offers flexibility to add new family members in case of unfortunate events. For instance, if the senior-most family member passes away or is no more eligible, other members can continue without compromising the health insurance plan’s benefits.
Choose a minimal waiting period
Generally, health insurance plans cover certain pre-existing diseases and treatments after a specific waiting period, such as two to four years. The treatments can include maternity expenses, hernia, varicose veins, etc. The waiting period duration varies from plan to plan. However, the maternity expenses are covered only after 2 to 4 years from the date of policy purchase.
So, always compare insurance plans to choose a plan that comes with a minimal waiting period and caters to all your requirements.
Choose a favourable co-payment clause
To buy medical insurance online, check for a co-payment clause. It is the percentage of the amount that you need to pay from your pocket. The insurance company pays the remaining hospitalization expenses.
For example, if the co-payment clause in your health insurance policy is 10% and your claim amount is Rs. 100,000/-, it implies that you will need to pay Rs. 10,000/- from your pocket while Rs. 90,000/- is covered by your preferred insurance company. You can compare insurance plans and choose a policy with no co-payment clause.
Look for plans with lifetime renewability
It is something we tend to forget while comparing insurance plans. So, it is essential to check your policy validation and find out whether it offers lifetime renewability or not. If it does, It enables you to continue it in a hassle-free manner.
What is the point of having a health insurance plan that doesn’t offer coverage during the later years? Hence, it becomes paramount to buy health insurance online that offers lifetime renewability. It allows you to continue with the same insurance plan after crossing the age limit without worrying about buying another policy.
For instance, if your health insurance plan offers renewability up to 50 years old, and once you that age limit, you will need to buy another insurance plan, which will cost you more. So, compare insurance plans and choose a program that offers lifetime renewability.
Check the room-rent limit offered in your policy
Whether to get a private room, semi-private room, or a shared hospital room, you will need to decide that while choosing a health insurance plan for yourself or your family members. So, choose a program that provides a higher room-rent limit to avoid paying extra burden on your finances.
In short,
While making a comparison between available health insurance plans, always factor in your and your family members’ requirements to make an informed decision. It allows you to avoid running from pillar to post at the time of insurance claim.