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Buy Family Health Insurance to Celebrate this Global Family Day

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Your family members are your lifelines, right? They are there for you in good times and bad ones and love you unconditionally. So, you must do the right thing to keep them safe in case of emergencies. Now, there is nothing quite like a medical emergency, as this COVID pandemic has shown us. Which is why, availing a family health insurance policy is essential. This Global Family Day, on January 1, go the extra mile to keep your family safe and happy by opting for the right insurance policy with ample coverage.

Why do you need a health insurance plan?

Let’s quickly give you seven pointers on why you need it and why it should be a non-negotiable entity of your life.

1. Despite your young age and healthy lifestyle, ailments and accidents can crop up without any prior warnings. So, believing that you are invincible is not advisable. From work pressure to bad roads, anything can land you in a hospital.

2. Hospitalisation can cause a major drain in your savings. Thanks to the progress made by medical science, cures for many life-threatening diseases have been found. But affording quality healthcare facilities is not that easy. This is where family health insurance can protect your finances and give you the choice to go for the best treatment available without thinking about expenses. It’s also important to understand that the health plan provided by your employer may not be enough to cover your and your family’s health needs.

3. With a health plan, you get cashless treatment too. It means that even if you don’t have a big bank balance, the treatment won’t stop.

4. There is a variety of plans available in the market that caters specifically to your needs and budget. So, whether you are a young couple planning to start a family or a senior citizen worried about critical illnesses, you can opt for plans that have been customised for you.

5. Apart from meeting the hospitalisation cost, family health insurance also pays for the medical billsbefore and after hospitalisation for a certain period. So, you are covered from the consultation phase to check-ups after discharge. Similarly, you get other benefits like free annual health check-ups, ambulance services, treatment expenses for AYUSH, mental illness, etc.

6. Since there is a waiting period for several ailments, buying medical insurance when you are healthy is more important as you can easily wade through that period without making any claim request and face no issues using it when the time arises.

7. You can avail tax benefits by buying a health plan under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act.

How to choose a health insurance plan for your family?

Individual versus floater:

When buying a family health insurance plan, the first thing you need to decide is whether you want to buy an individual plan for each member or buy a family floater plan or a mix of both. Here’s what experts usually recommend - if you are a nuclear family with one or two young kids, you can buy a family floater plan as buying three-four separate plans will cost you more. Also, in such a case, because you are young and healthy, the chances of falling sick would be less and a decent sum insured will be enough to cover all the members. However, if you have parents who are senior citizens, adding them to the family floater plan can be risky. Since parents tend to be more vulnerable to critical illnesses, their hospitalisation can consume a big chunk of the sum insured, leaving little coverage for other members. Therefore, parents should be protected by a separate plan.

Premium and coverage:

If you go for a bigger coverage, the premium will increase. So, make sure you find the balance between the right sum insured and the premium charged for it.

The insurer:

Since the insurance sector has many players, do thorough research about the insurance company’s market reputation, its claim settlement ratio, its network of hospitals, and how hassle-free and smooth their processes are, among other things.

Availability of top-up or refill plans:

Top-ups and super top-up plans provide additional medical coverage with your existing health insurance policy and they come in handy when the sum insured is not enough or gets exhausted. Pick a policy that offers such additional coverage.

Waiting period and renewability:

Lastly, opt for a family health insurance plan with a smaller waiting period and go for lifelong renewability. Both the need and premium for health insurance increase with age, and so, you would like to keep continuing with your plan and reap the benefits of brand loyalty.

Conclusion

A good family health insuranceplan is one that offers more inclusions and doesn’t force you to increase your liability through conditions like room rent capping, sub-limit, and co-payment. Comparing various plans and benefits will help you make the right call for your family.

Disclaimer: The above information is for illustrative purpose only. For more details, please refer to policy wordings and prospectus before concluding the sales.

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