Types of health insurance plans in India
The cost of healthcare in India is skyrocketing. Therefore, to avail the best medical treatment without exhausting your long-term savings, a health insurance policy becomes very important. But the availability of various types of health plans these days can confuse you while choosing the right one. Therefore, to help you understand better, here is a quick rundown of the different types of health insurance plans in India which you can choose as per your requirement.
Individual Health Insurance Plan: This policy covers the health as well as hospitalization expenses of the individual who has taken the policy. Premium under this policy is usually low and is determined as per the previous medical condition, location and age of the insured.
Family Floater Health Insurance Plan: Under this policy, an individual can include all the family members against multiple diseases under a single cover plan. Typically, parents and children (up to 2 children) can be covered under this plan. Under such an insurance plan, the sum insured is shared by all the included family members.
Senior Citizen Health Insurance Plan: A senior citizen health insurance plan is a medical insurance policy that offers medical coverage to individuals who are above 60 years of age. Some of the unique benefits offered under this medical insurance include cashless hospitalization, pre-existing diseases, no medical test and day care expenses.
Surgery and Critical Illness Insurance Plan: This plan is suitable for the insured that requires treatment against critical illness, such as kidney failure, paralysis, cancer, heart attack etc. As the medical expenses of these treatments are very high, the premium applicable to these types of policies is also high.
Maternity Health Insurance Plan: Maternity plans are designed to cover the women who are expecting a child. This policy covers the expenses incurred in the prenatal stage, delivery, and post-natal stage. Both the mother and the new-born are covered under such plans.
Group/Employee Health Insurance Plan: Such insurance plans are usually offered by employers and are designed to include and exclude members as they join and leave the company. They are generally low in premiums due to the less risk involved. Such plans also allow leniency in terms of covering pre-existing illnesses among other things.
Preventive Healthcare Insurance Plan: A preventive healthcare plan includes identification and minimization of disease-causing factors at an early stage through screening. Under this medical insurance plan, various tests such as HIV test, cancer screening, cholesterol test, sugar test etc are covered.
Personal Accident Insurance Plan: Personal accident plan covers the expenses related to unforeseen accidents. Such policies provide compensation in cases of disablement, death, injury, or impairment caused by road, rail, water, or air accidents. These are of two types-
Individual Accident Insurance: This plan covers an individual in the event of disability, dismemberment or demise due to an accident.
Group Accident Insurance: This plan offers complete coverage to the large/small group in the event of death or disablement of the policyholder due to an accident. It is suitable for organisations/employers, who are willing to ensure their employees against any accident. Some of the key things covered under this plan is accident death, permanent partial/total disability, weekly benefit, ambulance charges, daily cash allowance during hospitalization, etc.
Unit Linked Health Insurance Plan: This plan offers a unique combination of insurance and savings both at the same time. This policy helps in building a corpus which can be used to meet those expenditures which are not covered by the insurance policy.
Hospital Daily Cash Benefit Plan: This type of health insurance plan is offered by some of the health insurance companies as an in-built cover under their health insurance coverage. Under this plan, the insured is paid with a daily cash allowance up to a certain limit, apart from the hospitalization expenses. The insured can utilize the amount availed through this plan to meet additional expenses that are not covered by their basic health insurance plan. You can buy a hospital cash plan as a rider or as a standalone cover.
Super Top-Up Plan: This plan offers additional coverage, typically over and above the current available limit, at a lower premium amount. It can be used only after the sum insured of one’s regular policy has been exhausted.
Bottom Line
Health insurance plans hold a great importance in everyone’s life. As they offer you complete security to you and your family against unexpected medical contingencies. If we go by keeping in mind the rising medical cost and spurt of diseases, buying the best health insurance plan is mandatory for every individual. Therefore, choose the best out of the above-mentioned health insurance plans, as per your needs and budget to ensure your good health.
