Health Insurance
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Definition of Health Insurance |
Insurance against loss by illness or bodily injury.
Health insurance provides
coverage for medicine, visits to the doctor or emergency room, hospital stays
and other medical expenses.
Policies differ in what they cover, the size of the
deductible and/or co-payment, limits of coverage and the options for treatment
available to the policyholder. |
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Why should someone spend money on Health Insurance? |
Health insurance provides protection in case one becomes seriously ill or meet
with an accident. A sudden accident, loss of health or natural disaster can
happen to anyone. Such situations can drastically alter a person’s life, causing
loss of income and inability to pay bills. Sudden death can cause serious
financial hardship to the spouse and children left behind. Over and above the
emotional turmoil, it can throw their regular life out of gear due to lack of
finances.
A health insurance policy not only covers the cost of financial losses when
disaster strikes, but also helps one tide over emergency medical bills due to
hospitalization.
Even if someone is down with jaundice or malaria and requires hospitalization
for a couple of days, his hospital bill could range from anywhere between Rs
15,000 and 25,000 depending on the hospital. And in these days of rising health
care costs, imagine a chronic diabetic who needs insulin injections everyday,
some one who needs frequent dialysis/chemotherapy or someone who needs
continuous medication to keep living. How long will the person be able to pay
out of his own pocket without any support from an Insurance Company?
So think, can someone really afford to go without health insurance? If the
unimaginable does happen, one will certainly want to have an insurance policy
covering a portion of the extremely expensive cost. |
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What are the benefits of taking a Health Insurance policy? |
The immediate benefit of taking up a Health Insurance Policy is the Tax benefit
that one can enjoy under section 80 D of the Income Tax Act.
Health Insurance Policy offers a cashless hospitalization facility. This
facility is a great help since one doesn’t have to run around in the middle of
the night to collect cash for paying up large deposits prior to admission.
If a person gets hospitalized all his medical expenses 30 days prior to
hospitalization and 60 days post hospitalization will be covered. This includes
nursing expenses, diagnostic and medical expenses, surgery, anesthesia cost,
doctor’s expense, specialist fees, scanning, x-ray, ambulance expense, oxygen,
operation theatre expenses, cost of surgical appliances, room expenditure, day
care expense and similar expenses.
There are few treatments which due to technological advancement are done as an
outpatient, that is, one need not have prolonged hospitalization. These
treatments are also covered under health insurance.
If someone is a non-claimant, then one should not think that the money is
wasted. In fact, a Health Insurance policy is most advantageous when no claim is
made in the first few years and stay insured continuously. One will not only
enjoy the Income tax benefits under Section 80D of the IT Act, but also the sum
insured gets increased without paying any extra premium by way of cumulative
bonus. Also, one will get covered for medical conditions diagnosed over the
years. Since accidents, natural disasters and sudden loss of health can happen
to anyone, it makes sense to stay insured in spite of not claiming in any given
year or for a series of years. |
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How to make the best use of health insurance policy? |
One should
• in• insure at a young age as health insurance premium tends to increase with age -
more the age, higher the premium
• always carry the health card. This might save someone in case he/she is alone
in a situation and require immediate medical attention
• check whether the dependents are also included in the health insurance plan
provided by the employer, if that is not the case, it makes sense to take a
separate insurance plan for the dependents
• remember that the current employer will provide the health insurance cover
only till the time, one is employed with them. If someone is in-between jobs or
retire, there is a possibility that he/she and his/her loved ones might be
stranded in case of a medical contingency. Hence, it makes sense to invest in a
personal health insurance policy. >
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