Health Insurance plans are essential to an individual life no matter what. This individual health insurance plan is not covered under any employer-employee benefit programs. However, youngsters are becoming aware of how these insurance plans can benefit them in the long run.

Before we move ahead and discuss how we can identify the better health insurance plans, let’s discuss why you need them in the first place. Planning to maintain health insurance is a crucial step toward future planning.

Why should you have your Health Insurance Plan?

Medical bills are facing real-time inflation just like any other goods or service. You will not be young and spotless all your life. Everything that you do will have its reaction. With a rise in age, your medical bills are bound to increase substantially.

Having access to the best health insurance is not a luxury but a necessity. Just because you are young and agile today doesn’t mean that accidents ask and come into your life. Just think about your family before you decide not to have health insurance. If something happens to you, where will your family bring the money for your medical bills?

Health insurance plans have multiple benefits attached to them. These benefits usually include cashless hospitalizations and other add-on features. Corporate coverage of your health has benefits, however, they are never enough.

Not all companies provide for health insurance coverage either. According to experts, only 44% of Indian companies provide for health insurance coverage. Moreover, these covers are always subject to reductions.

What kind of health insurance coverage do you need? 

There are primarily two kinds of health insurance coverage. The first one is indemnity plans and the other one is ‘defined-benefit plan. Under the indemnity plans, you will be indemnified for the amount of expense you had to endure during a medical emergency. However, with the defined-benefit plans, you will receive a particular amount no matter how much you eventually spend on your medical condition.

Indemnity plans usually form a crucial part of the health insurance portfolios of an individual. LKP Securities is one such friend and guide who can help you understand which family health insurance plans you need and why.

As soon as you decide to have your health insurance coverage you will face the dilemma of whether to cover yourself or your family as well. According to experts, people should invest in individual insurance plans to get extensive coverage. Moreover, investing in health insurance individually will not let the perils of one bad experience affect other family members.

LKP Securities can help you find the best individual health insurance plans that are suitable for you. You need to understand that individual health insurance plans are bought in the name of particular individuals. Moreover, premium amounts depend on the sum insured and an individual’s age.

How much coverage do you need?

Figuring out how much coverage you will need is a difficult proposition. That is why LKP’s team of consultants provides some of the best original researches based on you. There can be no straight-jacket formula for determining the amount of coverage. For this one needs to understand so many factors about you.

LKP takes into account factors from your personal life, job stress, working process, and much more to assess how much would be an ideal coverage. The amount of coverage always depends on an individual. 

Experts in LKP suggests that city dwellers usually end up spending more on medical needs. That is why a minimum coverage of 10 lakh rupees would be ideal for people living in modern metropolitan cities. People living in A-tier cities get expensive healthcare and the cost of living is substantially higher, too.

What is a sub-limit in a health insurance plan?

Sub-limits are upper-cap limits of individual cost reimbursement heads. When someone is hospitalized their expenses have various sub-headings. From the kind of bed, one chooses to be on to the rooms every expense is sub-divided.

Sub-limits put an upper cap on such expenditures and the insurance company reimburses only a portion of such expenses. So let’s say your sub-limit upper cap for a hospital bed is Rs.1000 per night. When you are hospitalized you do not get any bed under or within Rs.1000. Instead, you get a standard bed for which the hospital is charging Rs. 5000 per night. The insurance company will reimburse your Rs.1000 multiplied by the number of days you stayed in the hospital.

Before choosing an individual health insurance plan, make sure that you read such clauses, and understand their implications. Moreover, you can always choose to customize your upper cap limits under individual heads according to your needs.

Does your insurance policy cover pre-existing ailments?

Almost all health insurance plans cover pre-existing ailments provided you are suffering the ailment for over 48 months. Although, some insurance companies cover ailments with a historic background of 36 months or lesser.

Moreover, be very careful when you try to get your health insurance plan. You should disclose all such pre-existing ailments to the company beforehand. If you don’t do that then your claim settlement process will not only get delayed but may have severe adverse effects.

Also, check for the list of predefined specific ailments that are covered under the ‘waiting period of 12 to 24 months before they become eligible for claims.

Which insurance plan should you go for?

This can be best answered by you and your circumstances. If you are looking for health insurance best plan for family or yourself make sure to get advice from someone neutral. LKP is one such friend who will guide you with such difficulties and confusion.

There are way too many clauses and tiny words in the insurance plans for you to go through one by one. Moreover, LKP will also read you the benefits of any single plan so that you can pace yourself. LKP will understand what you need and suggest health insurance plans according to your needs.