In India, most employers offer health insurance to their employees. But, the unfortunate part is that the health insurance cover provided at work is not sufficient to meet all your medical expenses. Hence, financial advisers highly recommended that you should take individual or family health insurance plans to meet your medical requirements.
Here’s all that you need to know about health insurance in India.
What is health insurance?
It is an agreement between the insured and the insurance company. The insured pays regular premiums, and,in return, the insurer takes care of the medical expenses of the insured as per the terms and conditions of the policy.
Why is health insurance essential?
With an increase in lifestyle diseases and an exponential increase in medical costs, paying for medical care out of your pocket can take a toll on your finances. A healthcare plan helps to cover all medical expenses, including hospitalization charges, diagnostic tests, ambulance charges, surgery costs, and even post-hospitalization recover by paying affordable premiums.
How and where to purchase health insurance?
In India, a large number of private insurance companies offer health insurance plans. You can either purchase a policy online or visit the nearest branch of your preferred insurer.
Most plans do not require individuals aged 55 years or less to undergo a health check-up while purchasing the health insurance policy. However, one has to disclose any pre-existing conditions like hypertension, cardiac issues, diabetes, etc.
Purchasing a health insurance plan while you’re young helps you enjoy lower premiums.
While taking a health insurance plan, you have to provide a few documents like:
Age proof, identity proof, address proof – This can be any of the following: passport, driving license, voter’s ID, PAN card, Aadhaar card, etc.
Medical tests – Applicable for people aged 56 years and above
Types of health insurance plans in India
Individual Plans – As the name implies, this plan covers all hospitalization and other medical expenses of the insured. The premium depends on the age of the insured and pre-existing medical conditions.
Family Floater Plans – Under this policy, all your family members can be covered under a single plan. Family health insurance plans offer a fixed sum assured that can be used by one member or shared among all family members.
Senior Citizen Plans – These are specially designed health insurance plans to meet the increased medical expenses of senior citizens.
Critical Illness Plans – These plans are ideal for individuals who require treatment for critical illnesses like heart attack, cancer, paralysis, kidney failure, etc. Treatment costs for critical illnesses are high. If you have higher chances of contracting any of these critical illnesses, then it makes sense to choose this plan.
Maternity Health insurance Plan – This plan covers all maternity-related expenses like pre and postnatal care, caesarean costs, child delivery expenses, medical expenses of the newborn, etc.
Personal Accident Plan – This plan covers all hospitalization and other medical expenses in case of an accident.
Unit Linked Health insurance Plan – This plan combines the benefits of health insurance and investments under a single policy. It helps investors build a corpus while meeting their medical expenses.
Tax benefits of health insurance
Premiums paid for health insurance are eligible for tax deduction under Section 80D. The upper limit for tax deduction is Rs. 25,000 for health insurance plans for self and Rs. 30,000 for health plans for parents.
Take a health insurance cover today, if you don’t have one
A health insurance plan helps you enjoy the best medical treatment in case of an emergency without having to worry about medical costs. Make sure to evaluate the different health policies available on the market and choose the right one that works for you and your family.
Disclaimer: This is a company press release. No HT Group journalist was involved in the creation of this content. This article has been shared on The Health Master.
