Buying health insurance is of paramount importance in today’s times.
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As life becomes more stressful, pandemics rage on and there is a sharp uptick in lifestyle diseases, people are increasingly spending more money on healthcare, tools and implements to keep themselves fit and mentally agile, spending more time in exercise, and trying to have better diets. However, nothing can provide the reassurance that a good health insurance plan can. Whether it covers an individual or the entire family, a health insurance policy is a must to combat the high costs of healthcare in India, and to keep your personal finances safe in the face of ill health.
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But after buying a good health insurance plan and paying its premiums regularly, you might still be unhappy with some aspects of the policy. Instead of continuing with a plan that you are unhappy with, you can take some proactive action to make the plan a better one – doing so improves the nature of the plan so that it may help you when the time comes to claim health insurance in the future.
If you are unhappy with your current health insurance policy, you should remedy the situation in the following ways:
- Port to another insurance provider.
The most common reason why most health policy holders are unhappy with their health insurance policies, is because they are unsatisfied with the insurance provider’s services. Some insurance providers are unresponsive to customer queries or complaints, while others have a poor claims settlement process. Still others have just a few health policies to offer, while others have an unfriendly digital interface for policy renewal. If you are unhappy with your current insurance provider and/or plan, you can port the plan to another better provider and continue with the same plan benefits. The IRDAI mandates that customers be allowed to port their existing plans to other providers without loss of benefits. Indeed, some reputed insurance providers offer more benefits in the same plan when you port to them.
- Upgrade the sum insured.
One of the fundamental mistakes one makes when buying individual or health insurance plans for the family, is to take a basic plan with a low sum insured. One does this either because they are lured by the low premium on the plan, or because they don’t want to invest in an expensive plan in the first place. But this is a mistake and it can turn into a costly one, especially if the policy has a low sum insured on it. Instead of taking this approach, you should seek out a comprehensive family health insurance plan from a good insurance provider – it covers all the important bases while offering an affordable premium. If you are unhappy about the current sum insured and wish to increase it, you can opt for an upgrade at the time of policy renewal.
- Bolster the existing plan with a super top up plan.
Then there are times when the primary health insurance plan is adequate, but you still require more coverage. This can happen if one or more family members contract an infectious illness like COVID-19 in the same year and require hospitalisation. Or if you have aged parents that suffer from chronic illnesses that require repeated treatment and hospitalisation – treating them would exhaust the entire sum insured on the plan while leaving the other participating family members vulnerable to no coverage if they require it. Here’s a good way out of this situation: at the time of policy renewal, opt for a super top up plan. This plan offers coverage despite multiple hospitalisations/claims in one policy year, at an affordable cost.
- Invest in critical illness insurance in case of a genetic predisposition.
Whether young or old, and whatever your social situation, there is always the chance of developing a serious lifestyle disease or a critical illness. One may enjoy good health today, but that does not guarantee continued good health in the future. Annually, there is an increase in serious illnesses like cancer and heart disease, over the past two decades. You are especially at risk if you have a family history of a critical illness, or are unfit or have an erratic lifestyle and poor diet. Treating serious illnesses is highly expensive, so you must invest in a critical illness insurance policy to pay for the high costs of treating potentially fatal diseases. The critical illness insurance policy pays a lump sum coverage upon confirmed diagnosis of a listed critical illness, so you can start treatment immediately.
Before zeroing down on the right health insurance plan, it is also imperative to check for additional benefits such as cumulative bonus booster, rewards for healthy lifestyle amongst several others. These tips can surely come in handy while investing in a health insurance plan that is comprehensive and sum insured is best suited for one’s family. So take charge and always buy the health insurance plan from a reputed health insurance provider to get the best overall experience, from a comprehensive plan to excellent customer support.
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