Essential Considerations Before Purchasing Health Insurance

However, selecting the right health insurance plan requires careful consideration of various factors to ensure it meets your needs and provides adequate coverage. In this blog, we’ll discuss essential considerations that individuals should keep in mind before purchasing a health insurance plan.

Essential Considerations Before Purchasing Health Insurance Cover

There are a few key things you should consider when zeroing down on any Health Insurance plan to make sure that you are buying what you actually need.

1. Age:

As individuals age, their susceptibility to illnesses and health issues increases significantly. With advancing age comes a greater likelihood of requiring medical assistance and making claims on insurance policies. This underscores the importance of carefully considering one’s age when purchasing a health insurance policy and determining the appropriate sum insured.

It’s essential to recognize that opting for a higher sum insured provides greater financial protection but also entails higher premium payments. Age plays a crucial role in determining insurance premiums, with older individuals typically facing higher premium rates compared to younger policyholders. Therefore, initiating coverage early can be advantageous, as it allows for more affordable premiums and ensures adequate coverage in the long run.

In summary, when selecting a health insurance policy, it’s vital to factor in your age and assess the appropriate sum insured accordingly. Starting early and choosing a policy with the right sum assured can help mitigate financial risks associated with healthcare expenses in older age.

2. Claim Settlement Process:

The claim settlement procedures of the insurer should be easy and seamless. The claim settlement ratio of the insurer is the best parameter to judge it. The claim settlement ratio is calculated by dividing the total claims paid by the number of claims filed. It’s advisable to go with an insurer that has a higher settlement percentage. Or else, you may need to run from post to pillar to get your medical bills reimbursed.

3. Network of Hospitals:

One should always check the cashless network of hospitals with the insurance company. At the time of a medical emergency or hospitalization, the hospitals in the network offer a cashless option where the insurance company will settle the medical bills directly with the hospital. Always check if the insurer has a wide network of hospitals where you can avail of cashless treatment. It can save you a lot of time and hassles.

4. Family Coverage:

Whether you want to purchase an individual health plan or a family floater plan is one of the other important decisions to consider before buying health insurance. Family floater plans are those health policies that cover the entire family under one safety net. This means that the sum insured amount can be used to cover the treatment cost of any immediate family member named in the policy. It can include your spouse, children or parents. Buying family floater policies can prove to be cheaper than buying individual policies for each member. So, keep that factor in mind before choosing a health plan.

5. Check plan Inclusions & Exclusions:

The coverage of the health insurance plan (inclusions) and the conditions against which a claim cannot be made (exclusions) determine the scope of the insurance policy. You must have full knowledge of all inclusions and exclusions before purchasing health insurance. Being unaware of the coverages can lead to an increase in out-of-pocket expenses. And being unaware of the exclusions can lead to claim rejection.