OCTOBER 1, 2021 BY HEALTHINSURANCEADVISOR
The consistent rise in healthcare expenses across the country has made it an absolute necessity for everyone to have a health insurance policy. After all, accidents and illnesses never come announced. But the least you can do is to mitigate the huge and unexpected monetary burden that comes with such illnesses and accidents. Now, buying health insurance in India is not that difficult, if you know the right way to approach it.
As such, it is not only about getting the right coverage, but also about availing the right type ofhealth insurance policy. In that regard, given below is a brief discussion of the different types of health insurance plans you can get in the country. Read on to know more!
The major types of health insurance plans in India
There are two main categories of health insurance policies in India, namely, indemnity plans and defined-benefit plans.
Indemnity plans:
Indemnity plans refer to the conventional health insurance policies that offer coverage for hospital expenses up to the insured sum. Indemnity health insurance plans are of several types, such as:
The insured will get the incurred amount at the time of hospitalization and can claim up to the basic insured amount. For example, if you have an individual coverage of Rs. 1 lakh, along with coverage for your spouse, both of you can individually claim Rs. 1 lakh.
● Mediclaim coverage
Mediclaim insurance offers you compensation for the hospitalization expenses that you incur because of accidental stay or illness. It involves in-patient charges like doctor’s fee, surgery expenses, nursing charges, anaesthesia, oxygen, and so on.
A family floater insurance policy lets you offer coverage for your entire family under one plan. The insured sum remains equally divided among all the family members. One of the benefits of this plan is that thepremium is lesser than the mediclaim or individual policies.
● Senior citizen plans
Senior citizen plans cover the elderly for different medical expenses including critical illnesses, pre-existing diseases, and also coronavirus. The benefits of the policy differ from one provider to another. For instance, Max Bupa offers coverage for Ayush treatments and pre and post-hospitalization, as well.
● Unit linked health policies
Unit linked plans offer dual benefits of insurance and investment. This plan lets a
part of the paid premiums be used in the stock market to offer insurance coverage to the insured.
Defined-benefit plans:
In defined-benefit plans, the insured gets compensated with a lump sum amount on the detection of a disease or illness. These plans are further subdivided into three types, i.e.:
● Personal accident plan
The policy offers coverage to the driver against death or accidental injuries. The insured or their family gets a lump sum amount in case of loss or income or death due to total or partial disability.
● Critical illness plan
The policy is especially crafted for the treatment of certain diseases, such as the critical lifestyle diseases. The cost of treating these diseases can be a highly expensive affair in the lack of a critical illness policy.
● Hospitalization cash benefit policies
This insurance coverage is provided by some companies as a built-in cover under the health insurance policy. The insured gets a daily cash allowance until a predetermined limit, besides the hospitalization expenses.
The endnote
Hopefully, you now have a fair idea of the types of health insurance policies and what to expect out of each of them. It is time now to consider the right one for your needs and contact a well-reputed policy provider duly. Make sure not to wait any further to avail the right policy. Visit IRDA website for technical analysis.