As healthcare continues to become expensive, it has become important for
everyone to get adequately covered through health insurance. Experts
suggest that one should be careful while selecting the right amount of
health cover. “Since the outbreak of the covid pandemic and the rise in the medical
treatment cost, more and more people are opting for health insurance
covers, but ‘Under insurance’ is still a major cause of trouble when
they file a claim. To decide the right amount of health cover, one
should access their needs, current age, health condition, lifestyle, and
income systematically. Inflation and feasible unforeseen expenses are
the other major factors to be considered while choosing the policy,”
said Thakur.
The amount of health cover one can get depends on the type of policy and
the number of dependants. Ideally, a person should buy a plan providing
a minimum coverage of Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh to keep themselves
shielded against any health emergency under present circumstances.
The amount of health cover one can get depends on the type of policy and
the number of dependants. Ideally, a person should buy a plan providing
a minimum coverage of Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh to keep themselves
shielded against any health emergency under present circumstances. What are rides and top up plans?
In simple terms, a rider under health insurance is an add-on for
additional benefits. For opting a rider, the policyholder is required to
pay some extra amount over the original premium. Typically, such
incremental costs are minimal. Some of the popular riders provided under
health insurance are room rent waiver, maternity cover, hospital cash,
critical illness cover, and personal accident rider.
A top-up health insurance plan provides additional medical coverage to
people with an existing health insurance policy or employer mediclaim
policy. Top-up plans provide cover for medical expenses even if the sum
assured under regular policy gets exhausted. Should you opt for riders and top-up plans?
Experts suggest individuals should carefully opt for riders and top-up plans to ensure they are not underinsured.
“Along with health plans, one should also opt for riders and top-up
plans which are available to enhance one’s health insurance covers and
to cover the major financial risks,” Aatur Thakkar, Co-founder and
Director at Alliance Insurance Brokers, told FE Online.
“Since the cost of healthcare is escalating, it is
advised that while choosing health cover one should consider family
history as well. Along with that, it is also important to take note of
the rising lifestyle diseases like cancer, heart disease, and diabetes,
which will impact a considerable portion of the youth generation in the
future, thus to take covers that can prevent these risks are equally
important,” he added. Why one should opt for riders and top up plans
According to Thakur, underinsurance is still a major cause of trouble
even as more an more people are opting for health insurance since Covid
outbreak. Riders and top up plans help in addressing this trouble.
“It is advised to choose a health plan which is at least 50% of one’s
annual income. Opting for an adequate sum insured according to one’s
need and reading thoroughly about the exclusions and conditions also
help to make the right decision in choosing a health plan,” he added.
