Month: July 2016

How secure are you with your regular health insurance plan?

Your regular health insurance policy may not be enough to cover your future medical expenses. With rising costs of quality healthcare, the coverage provided by your policy may fall short and you may be forced to dig into your personal savings. You may choose to buy another regular policy, but that is expensive.

How can you increase your health coverage without the need to buy an additional policy?

The super top-up plan is the answer!

A super top-up plan provides you additional health cover at a fraction of what you will pay if you buy another health policy. A super top-up plan comes into picture when you’ve exhausted your claims up to a threshold limit. And this works even when you exhaust your threshold limit after combining the costs of multiple treatments in a year. Let’s understand it with an example.

Suppose you have a super top-up plan of INR 10 lakhs with a threshold limit of INR 5 lakhs, which you can claim through a regular health policy.

Scenario 1: You are hospitalized and your medical expenses are INR 3 lakhs.

You can claim 3 lakhs from your regular health plan.

Scenario 2: You are hospitalized again, in the same year, and your medical expenses are INR 5 lakhs.

You can now claim only 2 lakhs from your regular health plan. The super top-up plan will cover the remaining 3 lakhs now.

Also read how to lower your insurance premiums

Sounds perfect, right? Now let’s look at all the advantages of buying a super top-up plan.

Why should you opt for a Super Top-Up Plan?

• In the last 10 years, the costs for medical treatment have increased by more than 50%. The cover provided by basic health plans may not be sufficient. Super top-up plans help to deal with the growing medical costs and inflation.
• You don’t need to have an existing health policy to buy a super top-up plan. You can pay up to your threshold limit out of your own pocket and then use the super top-up plan, to pay for the rest of the expenses.
• A super top up gives more cover to the existing policy, especially with growing health needs of the family with kids and dependent parents.
• Covers multiple treatments and considers the total of all medical bills in a policy year for the threshold limit.
• Buying super top-up plan is much economical as compared to regular health plans, if you want to upgrade your health cover. For example, if a couple aged 45 years, have an existing health policy of Rs. 5 lakhs, and they want to increase the cover to Rs. 10 lakhs, then a super top-up plan with a threshold limit of Rs. 5 lakhs will work out to be around 35% cheaper than another health policy of Rs. 5 lakhs as per the following table:

• You can purchase a super top-up plan from a different insurer than your current one. The claims process is easier though, with a single insurer.
• Additionally, a super top-up plan:
  • Is available as both individual and family floater policies.
  • Is eligible for tax deduction under Section 80D.
  • Allows cashless treatment at insurer’s network of hospitals.
  • Requires no medical check-up till the age of 55yrs, for pre-acceptance.

Super top-up plan is therefore, the best way to cover all your medical expenses during the year, that too at a lower premium. Buying a health policy, however, should depend on the coverage provided keeping in view the inflation in costs of medical treatment. If you need to compare and understand the benefits of a variety of good super top-up plans, you may refer to these plans by visiting the health insurance page on our site.

Read more about Separate health insurance plans for parents or floater?

Read also An anatomy of an health insurance plan

Check out our video to understand what is a top-up and a super top-up?

The market is saturated with different varieties of health insurance plans. Whether we talk about basic health plans, defined benefits plans, disease-specific plans or senior citizen plans, the platter is overfilled with choices. With about 20+ insurers competing for business, you couldn’t have asked for more varieties. As a result, comparing between the plans before taking a buying decision is the most obvious thing to do and since online aggregator websites are also aplenty, this comparing becomes much easier and convenient. Gone are the days when one used to depend on the health plan peddled by a family agent. With so many options available, who would forego the choice of choosing the best?

We, at turtlemint.com, a dedicated insurance comparison portal try to make your life easier by providing the best possible options suitable for your needs. This is taken care of by specially designed algorithms, which determine the best plan that matches your needs, so that you don’t have to really worry about which one to choose.

Do you compare your health plan before buying it?

If you do, what are the parameters of your comparison? The first thing which must have jumped out from your mind would be the premium, isn’t it? Premiums are given the majority weightage when comparing between different plans, which, unfortunately, is wrong. Do you compare apples to oranges or apples to apples? Apples to apples, is it? But aren’t both fruits? Then why not apples to oranges?

If comparing apples to oranges is foolish, how can you compare different health plans based only on their premiums? What about their coverage features? Do you ever compare the plan features or are you too busy saving your pockets to look at the coverage extended. If you don’t, you are making a mistake. Buying a health plan requires a comparative analysis between the plans available and the analysis parameters should include the coverage features. If you don’t know what to look for, here are the important points:

• • Coverage extended – though all plans have the basic coverage inclusions like room rent, pre and post-hospitalization, day care procedures, organ donor expenses, ambulance charges, etc. some plans also provide additional coverage features like Sum Assured restoration, coverage for alternative medical treatments, maternity coverage, etc. You should look into the coverage features of the plans under comparison before making a choice. Plain vanilla plans, though cheaper, only have a basic coverage while plans with higher premiums are like ice-cream sundaes which provide various coverage options. Who likes vanilla when you can settle for sundaes?
  • Plan limits – health plans might have a capping on the room rent allowed, ICU Room rent, specific surgery costs or ambulance expenses. Comparing these limits is essential because you wouldn’t want to settle on plans which, though cheaper, do not fully meet your hospitalization expenses, would you?

    Do you know what is pre & post hospitalization in an health insurance plan? Check our video to know more

     

  • Waiting period – another important consideration is the tenure of the waiting period. This clause is applicable for pre-existing illnesses and certain specified list of diseases where the company specifically excludes the coverage for such illnesses in the waiting period. Given the uncertainty of health issues you wouldn’t want to settle on a plan with a long waiting tenure, would you? What if a plan with similar coverage options offers a lower waiting period? Wouldn’t you want to get coverage for all your ailments at the earliest?
  • Network hospitals – is your local hospital your most preferred destination for medical treatments? Is it included in your insurer’s network hospitals? Did you check? The answer would most certainly be ‘No’. If you want to avail of a cashless claim (most of us do) treatments in a network hospital is the only way. Would you want to go to the other end of the town in search for a network hospital? Find out the network hospitals when comparing so that your claim process becomes hassle free.
  • Discounts and bonus – we all love discounts, don’t we? That is why everyone loves the sale season. Then why don’t we look into the discounts and bonus available in different health insurance policies? Various types of discounts like family discount, bi-annual term discount, online discount, etc. are available in health plans. A No Claim Bonus (NCB) is also given which increases the Sum Assured at the same premium for every claim-free year. While discounts lower the premium, the NCB increases the coverage without a pocket-pinch. Since your pocket is ultimately saved, isn’t these a point of consideration?

I agree that saving money is important but isn’t it the whole crux of buying a health insurance plan. If saving premiums save money, doesn’t getting a complete claim settlement also save money? A cheapest plan might be appealing initially, but when you incur a claim, the plan might fall short of meeting it entirely. Would the cheaper plan still look the best? A plan with a comprehensive coverage compared on all the above parameters is better, though a tad bit dearer, if you want to enjoy an all-inclusive coverage and put your mind to rest. If you still feel saving a couple of thousands on premiums is more important, good luck with your claims!

All you need to do is to compare it on https://www.turtlemint.com/health-insurance by entering your basic details and then choose the plan which best suits your needs. After you compare and select, just click on I’m interested and then select Apply Online tab to buy the policy online.

Read also What is insurance and how does it works?

Read also An anatomy of an health insurance plan

Read about Dejargonizing health insurance terms

‘A stitch in time saves nine’. Yes, we have heard this saying and read fables about this many times when growing up, but did we follow it? Procrastination is the say of the day and people always delay in completing chores which they consider is a burden. A health insurance policy too, though beneficial, is associated with money outflow, and hence, is constantly delayed. Youth often blinds us in its rosy picture and we feel that we are and will be disease-free till we hit the middle ages. This preconceived notion delays a health insurance purchase and it is not until later that we feel the harmful effects of such delay.

Delaying a health insurance plan involves costs, both literally and metaphorically. Let us see how we lose in both literal and metaphorical senses through delaying our health insurance plan:

• Higher premiums – your age determines your health insurance premium. A higher age depicts a higher probability of contracting diseases and hence premiums are always high. So, if you delay in buying a health insurance policy, your premiums would increase and would literally cost you dearly. For instance, Apollo Munich’s Easy Health Premium Plan for a Rs.5 lakh Sum Assured has the following rates of premiums for an individual at different age groups:
  So, you see, delaying a health plan is expensive and even the numbers prove that.

• Reduced coverage – there is a pre-existing waiting period clause in all the health insurance plans. This clause excludes the coverage of pre-existing illness which you have when buying the policy. When you delay buying a health insurance plan, you might develop some illnesses along the way. Such illnesses wouldn’t be covered in the initial few years of your plan. As compared to this, if you buy young you are free from any serious pre-existing illnesses. So, you get a comprehensive coverage and can wait out the waiting period. Later, when you actually contract any illness, the waiting period would have ended and you can enjoy a comprehensive coverage. Moreover, if at a later stage, any pre-existing illness becomes severe your health plan might be denied. Though health plans cover pre-existing illnesses after a specified waiting period, severe illnesses are not covered at all. Sad, but true!
• The necessity of medical check-ups – the pre-entrance medical check-ups which you dread would become compulsory if you buy a health plan late in life. Most health insurance plans require a pre-entrance medical examination for individuals above the age of 45 years. The cost of such examinations would be paid by the company, either in full or partially, only if the cover is granted and the policy is issued. So, if you delay buying the plan, you would have to undertake the required medical check-ups. Moreover, you might also have to shoulder the examination costs, either partly or completely (if the policy is rejected due to adverse medical findings).
• Compulsory clauses – many policies have a co-pay clause or a voluntary excess clause for people in the higher age groups. These clauses are compulsory and also heavy on your pockets. For instance, many policies include a 20% or 10% co-payment clause as the individual crosses 60 years of age. This means that in the event of any claim, 10% or 20% of the claim would have to be met by you.

The reasons show how a delay in making the health insurance purchase is costly both in literal and metaphorical terms. A health insurance plan has become a mandatory requirement in today’s age when medical expenses are touching the roof. When you would ultimately buy a health plan later, why not buy it young? You would be saving a lot in terms of premiums and coverage availed. After all, prevention is always better than cure, isn’t it?

Read more about 7 reasons why you should invest in health insurance early

Read also An anatomy of an health insurance plan

Read more about Dejargonizing health insurance terms