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Growing Importance of Health Insurance during the Covid-19 pandemic

Why Health Insurance is very important for each and everyone?

Buying a health insurance policy for yourself and your family is important because medical care is expensive, especially in the private sector. Hospitalisation can burn a hole in your pocket and derail your finances. It will become even tough, if the person who brings in the money, is now in a hospital bed. All this can be avoided by just paying a small annual premium which would lessen your stress in case of medical emergencies. A good health insurance policy would usually cover expenses made towards doctor consultation fees, costs towards medical tests, ambulance charges, hospitalization costs and even post-hospitalization recovery costs to a certain extent.  

Benefits of having a Health insurance Policy?

1.Cashless Treatment: If you are insured, you can get cashless treatments as your insurance company would work in collaboration with various hospital networks. 

2. Pre and post hospitalization cost coverage: Insurance policy also covers pre and post hospitalization charges up to the period of 60 days, depending on the insurance plans purchased. 

3. Transportation Charges: Insurance policy also covers the amount paid to ambulance towards the transportation of insured. 

4. No Claim Bonus (NCB): This is the bonus element which is paid to the insured if the insured does not file a claim for any treatment in the previous year. 

5. Medical Checkup: Insurance policy also provide options for health checkups. Free health checkup is also provided by some insurers based on your previous NCBs. 

6. Room Rent: Insurance policy also covers room expenses depending on the premium being paid by the insured.  

7. Tax Benefit: Premium paid on Health insurance is tax deductible under section 80D of the Income Tax Act.  

How to Select the Right Insurance Policy?

It’s difficult to select the best insurance policies as all insurance company provides a similar type of insurance plan. Hence some of the important points that any Person should look before purchasing any plans are: 1. Sum Assured 2. Minimum Entry Age and renewability clause 3. Room Rent Capping 4. Inclusion and Exclusion 5. No Claim Bonus 6. Other Benefits  

Portability of Health Insurance?

When you change your health insurance policy from one insurance company to another, you don’t have to lose the benefits you have accumulated.

In the past in health insurance policies, such a move resulted in your losing benefits like the waiting period for covering “Pre-existing Diseases”.

Now IRDA protects you by giving you the right to port your policy to any other insurer of your choice. It has laid down that your new insurer “shall allow for credit gained by the insured for pre-existing condition(s) in terms of waiting period”.

This applies not only when you move from one insurer to another but also from one plan to another with the same insurer.

Rights

You can port your policy from and to any general insurance company or specialised health insurance company

You can port any individual/ family policies

Your new insurer has to give you the credit relating to waiting period for pre-existing conditions that you have gained with the old insurer

Your new insurer has to insure you at least up to the sum insured under the old policy

The two insurers should complete the porting as per the timelines prescribed in the IRDA (Protection of Policyholders’ Interests) Regulations and guidelines

For any further details and doubts regarding Process to purchase 

Health Insurance, Portability, Premium, Sum Insured.

Contact-Sumitra Varia 

 (Policy Consultant)

    8850156778 

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