In the modern era, one should take a health insurance policy. Health insurance is an agreement whereby an insurance company agrees to undertake a guarantee of compensation for medical expenses in case the insured falls ill or meets with an accident which leads to hospitalization of the insured. 

Buying a health insurance policy for yourself and your family is important because medical care is expensive, especially in the private sector. Hospitalization 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.

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:

  • Minimum Entry Age and renewability clause
  • Room Rent Capping
  • Inclusion and Exclusion
  • Sum Assured
  • No Claim Bonus

Insurance companies must have tie-ups with the leading hospitals to provide cashless treatment to the insured. In case the insurance company has no tie-ups with the hospital, they reimburse the cost of expenses incurred by the insured. The government also promotes health insurance by providing a deduction from income tax.

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 

  • Cashless Treatment
  • High cover at low cost  
  • Pre and post hospitalization cost coverage
  • No Claim Bonus (NCB)
  • Transportation Charges
  • Medical Checkup
  • Fixed premium cost 
  • Room Rent
  • Tax Benefit

 Types of Health Insurance

  1. Individual Health Insurance:This policy covers the health expenses and hospitalization expenses of an individual who has taken the policy. Premium under this policy is determined as per the age of insured.
  2. Family Health Insurance:The importance of health insurance policy is that an individual can include all the family members against multiple diseases under a single cover.  
  3. Maternity Health Insurance: This policy covers pre and postnatal care, child delivery expenses of newborn babies. This policy is also covered for the newborn up to a certain period as mentioned in the plan. 
  4. Personal Accident: This policy covers hospitalization expenses in the event of an accident.
  5. Senior Citizen Health insurance:This policy is designed for senior citizens or individuals over 60 years of age offering protection from health issues during old age.
  6. Surgery and Critical Illness Insurance:This plan is suitable for the insured that requires treatment against critical illness, like kidney failure, paralysis, cancer, heart attack, etc. As the medical expenses of these treatments are very high, the premium applicable to these types of policies is also high.