Some factors to consider while picking up your best health insurance plan…

It is rightly said “Health is wealth”, without good health a person cannot work hard, earn money and prosper in life. It is important a person should take care of his or her health time-on-time to keep themselves fit enough. However, due to growing uncertainties, environmental degradation, hectic lifestyle an individual can grapple with critical illness, or health issues. Also, at times people might have some hereditary issues or on a bad day meet with an accident. For all this, you require proper medical treatment. In this era of rising inflation costs, medical treatment costs are shooting sky high. A simple surgery or operation goes up to 8 to 10 lakh in metropolitan cities like Mumbai, Delhi, etc.

The little savings that person have might prove insufficient to finance the creeping costs of medical treatments. Borrowing from friends or family during emergencies might also create a fear of having a rift in a relation, if not paid on time. Therefore, the best way to get right financial support for you and your family’s medical treatment would be purchasing a health insurance plan.

Health insurance plan is a type of financial coverage that covers up for the cost of an insured individual’s medical and surgical expenses against the premium paid to the insurance company. Depending on the type of health coverage, either the insured pays cost out-of-pocket and get reimbursed later or the insurer will bear the costs directly. All you have to do is just provide the policy number at the cash counter and walk out without any financial worries.

Indian insurance market has introduced hundreds of customized policies to meet individual and family requirements. Comparing policies online helps you take a right decision for buying the best health insurance plan for you and your family. Today, online tools help you to compare policies of different insurers in terms of benefits and features, discounts offered, premium costs, payment flexibility, claim settlement ratio, company’s past performances, etc.

Let’s understand the primary factors that one needs to consider before purchasing health insurance plan:

•A number of dependents to be included in the insurance plan, their ages, and existing health condition.

•Check your affordability before deciding on the maximum amount of sum insured in your health policy. The higher cover will increase your premium. Check your risk appetite and accordingly, purchase a suitable health cover.

•Right knowledge about the insurance companies offering the most alluring health insurance plan is important. If you’re facing difficult in sorting the data, talk to your financial expert or health agents who have mastered the art of doing so.

•Consult the insurance company personally and then take your buying decision

•Check if your insurance company offers No Claim Bonus, i.e if you don’t make any claim on your health cover policy for a year or more, the sum insured will be increased by a certain percentage at the same premium costs.

•A claim settlement ration is one of the most important aspects of India health insurance. Check the company’s settlement ratio before purchasing the policy. If the insurance claim is not settled on-time then the whole purpose of buying the policy gets wasted.

•The best health insurance company will always have enough funds with efficient underwriting process to pay insured person’s claim as quickly as possible.