Health insurance under the India General Insurance is commonly called as Mediclaim policies. Health insurance policy covers expenses invited during hospitalization and also the expenses during the pre as well as post hospitalization stages like pathological tests buying medicines, etc. Healthcare includes the services developed to safeguard health, including medical facilities, professional and financial services like medical insurance Mediclaim policies are also tax beneficial, as stated under Section 80D, with the maximum amount of deduction being fixed at Rs 10,000 and in case of senior citizens Rs 15,000.
Mediclaim insurance policy covers you and your family members against unexpected medical contingency. A Mediclaim insurance policy is an agreement between you and the insurance company. The policy lists a package of medical benefits such as medical tests, drugs and treatment services. The insurance company charges you a Premium to cover you against the risks. In other words Health insurance protects you and your dependants against any financial constraints arising on account of a medical emergency. Basically, the client pays a sum of money known as the Premium and in turn the Insurance firm would commit to pay a predetermined sum of money to meet the customer's claims.
The importance of Health Insurance, popularly known as Mediclaim has considerably increased in India in the recent years. Awareness and importance of health and health related issues has encouraged this growth. Also, now a days people are financially smart and pay more attention to their financial planning. They know that health would always not remain the same and therefore it is wiser to invest in a comprehensive medical policy. On the other hand, the insurance companies were fast to react to this situation. They saw a market and hence, got out of their shell and evolved. They knew that they had to provide smart medical insurance plans to tap the market.
All these factors have lead to the changing face of the health insurance sector in India. Apart from this, steps taken by the government and the endeavors of the insurance companies are the prime factors inducing this growth.
Cost is a critical factor in the entire decision making process of buying a policy. The cost element depends on the number of dependent members in the family. In simple terms, a dependent is a person who is relying on the individual financially. Thus, the customer has to watch out for the fact that the cost of buying must justify the benefits covered under the policy. In other words, you have to hit a right balance between the cost and benefits available.
Age is another important factor that needs to be taken into an account. In case of children as well as parents, the age factor becomes more important since beyond a particular age, coverage may not be possible. The maximum age for buying a policy would vary from insurer to insurer.
Customer must make sure that whether he/she covered under any health insurance plan of their employer? If yes, check out whether the dependents are included under the cover. If not, then they need to find a solution for your dependents.
It is always good to take your own health cover rather than depend on the Office mediclaim policy. If you were to fall ill when you lose your job then your personal mediclaim policy will prove to be very useful.
A mediclaim plan will help you tide over any health crisis you face provided you have taken enough cover. Make sure to take a critical illness rider in the health policy.
Mr. C S Sudheer is the founder and CEO of IndianMoney.com – India’s largest Financial Education Company. He started his career with ICICI Prudential Life Insurance and later on worked with Howden India. After his brief stint in Howden India, he moved on and incorporated Suvision Holdings Pvt Ltd which is the sole promoter of IndianMoney.com. He aims to build a nation that is financially literate with investment savvy citizens.
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