Shocking truths related to Health of Indians!

You should first look at covering ALL members of your family for the larger “unmanageable” costs, which could burn a hole in your overall financial planning before signing for any fancy product.

Never start by comparing premiums. Health Insurance is long-term purchase and it is more than a Mumbai-Delhi Air Ticket, which you can compare and buy from comparison/aggregator websites. Health Insurance is a long-term complex contract coupled with complex services. Comparison of premiums could be largely misleading and could result in a disaster. Comparing Health Insurance requires deeper insights into the overall insurance contract (called policy wordings) over and above price comparison

Remember, your core goal, when you buy Health Insurance is to save yourself from mounting healthcare costs right through your life. A product, which ceases renewal, while you are still alive and when you need it more than any time before, is a BAD product. Shift through all products and find out the maximum renewal age. Better, look for Lifetime products.

Look for treatment wise limits in the products. Treatment wise limits basically cap the amount you can claim for a particular surgery under the policy. Say, there could be limits for Cardiac treatments of Rs. 1.50 Lakhs or for Cataract for Rs. 20000 per eye. Such limits would cap your claim, even n when you have a large sum insured under the policy.

It is basically the share of admissible claim that the customer would have to pay from their own pocket. For instance, with copay option of 10%, the claim amount is of Rs. 50,000, and the admissible claim is Rs. 48,000 then the copay amount would be Rs. 4800. The Total amount you would have to pay is Rs. 6800/- (Rs. 2000 deduction in the policy + Rs. 4800 of copay).

Sum Insured is the total annual liability under the policy. Since this is a long-term product, you should look at the maximum available cover you can afford. Remember, a sum insured of Rs. 2 to 3 Lakhs will have no value, by the time you start using it.

History in the best teacher. If it is a new company, you could look at the history of the promoters and their businesses. Generally, a company or set of promoters known for their ethics and excellent governance, venturing out into Insurance would be a decent bet. Get information from your advisor, on the overall claims experience, on responsiveness, about changes and number of changes in the product, since it was launched. Too many or too large changes, indicates there could be more tomorrow.

Some consider Private Insurers better due to their modern infrastructure, their responsiveness. Private Sector would run for business and hence would be very responsive. Public Sector, are the Government’s mechanism to ensure a great healthcare infrastructure, and hence somewhat have a social angle, changes in the policy are not driven only by profits but also need to socially acceptable. You need to understand the pros and cons diligently and hence set your own expectations right for your choice.