If the Covid-19 pandemic reinforced something concrete, it was the need of a health insurance plan. Health insurance had always been there, but post-pandemic, the need has become more apparent. Suddenly, most people have realised its importance and the demand for health insurance has surged. Even if we eliminate the impact the pandemic has had on our minds, a health insurance policy is a must for your financial planning. 

Why Choose a Health Insurance Plan

The reason is primarily because of the rising lifestyle diseases and its expensive treatments. Besides illnesses, there are chances of accidental injuries or any other medical contingency as well. When you suffer a medical emergency, the financial outflow is considerable, especially because it cannot be postponed or ignored.

Medical expenses do create a financial strain. It dips into one’s financial goals. This is because medical inflation has been on the rise and treatments are becoming ever expensive. It is often quoted to be about 15% per annum. 

To cover such expenses, a health insurance plan becomes imperative. Health insurance plans cover the medical expenses incurred on hospitalisation. They, therefore, provide you with the much-needed financial assistance in a medical emergency and protect your savings. 

Health Insurance Plans For Your Family

Medical emergencies might strike any member of your family. As such, you need a health insurance plan which covers all your family members so that if anyone falls ill, the policy comes to your financial rescue. 

There are various types of health insurance plans in India with a variety of benefits attached to it. However, while buying a health insurance plan for your family, it should be chosen with utmost care. You need to consider various aspects before finalising the plan. This would ensure that the policy is comprehensive and it provides adequate coverage to your family. 

If you need help with choosing the right health insurance plan for your family, given below is a guide to help you with the same. 

Health insurance plans are offered as family floater health insurance plans. These plans cover multiple family members under a single policy. You can avail coverage for –

• Yourself
• Your spouse
• Dependent children
• Dependent parents

Moreover, there are some plans which extend coverage to include parents-in-law, siblings and other extended members of the family. So, if you are looking for coverage of your whole family, you can opt for family floater health insurance plans.

How To Choose A Health Insurance Plan For Your Family?

Here is a definite guide for choosing the right health plan for your family –

Step 1: Choose The Right Policy

Health insurance plans come in different variants and each variant provides a specific type of coverage. So, the next step would be to zero in on the right policy for your family. 

Here are the commonly available health plans –

• Individual health plans
  Health Insurance Plans that cover a single individual under a single sum insured. This is an indemnity health insurance plan wherein the claim would be paid only for the expenses borne for the hospitalization.
  Tip: So, if you are looking for a plan for yourself only, or a single member of the family, you can opt for this type.
• Family floater plans
  Health Insurance Plans that cover all the family members under a single sum insured. Family floater plans provide umbrella coverage so that each person can claim up to the entire sum insured.
  Tip: Family Floater Plans are usually cheaper than opting for individual members of the family. This is especially true for a young family.
• Senior citizen plans
  Health Insurance Plans that cover individuals aged 60 years and above. Since this plan specially caters to senior citizens, it usually covers all necessary benefits that mainly senior citizens would need like outpatient department treatment (OPD) coverage, pre-existing disease coverage, etc.
  Tip: This type of plan can be taken for your parents.
• Disease specific plans
  Health insurance plans that are meant to cover specific illnesses and their complications like dengue, heart ailments, Covid-specific, etc.
  Tip: This type of plan caters to any specific risk and is usually cheaper. Hence it can be taken along with an indemnity health insurance plan.
• Critical illness plans
  Health insurance plans that cover specific critical illnesses and pay the sum insured in lump sum if the insured suffers from any covered illness like heart attack, stroke, cancer, etc. These plans are usually fixed benefit plans, i.e. if you are diagnosed with any critical illness, the entire amount would be payable irrespective of the amount spent on treatment.
  Tip: This plan can be taken along with an indemnity health insurance plan for enhanced coverage.
• Top-up and super top-up plans
  There are supplemental health plans which come with a deductible limit. Claims exceeding the deductible limit are paid by these plans.
  Tip: Opting for a top up or a super top-up health insurance plan is the cheapest way to enhance your already existing health insurance coverage.

So, ideally, you can opt for one family floater policy covering yourself, spouse and dependent children. If you have dependent parents, you may opt for a separate senior citizen policy for them. 

Even in case of dependent children, remember that the family floater policy would cover them till 23 or 25 years of age. Once your children cross this age, an independent health insurance plan would be needed for them in most plans. 

Also, along with an indemnity health insurance plan for your family, a critical illness plan is also recommended. The policy would cover dreaded illnesses, which have become common in recent times, and give you a lump sum benefit to meet the expensive treatment costs. So, you can opt for a critical illness policy for complete coverage for the family.

Step 2: Opt for an Adequate Sum Insured

In order to find the adequate sum insured for your health insurance plan, you need to find out the total members that need to be covered. So, you need to choose a sum insured that is sufficient to cover the expected medical costs of all the members of the family.

Given the increasing medical costs and medical inflation, a high sum insured is desirable. However, a high sum insured also results in a high premium. As such, if affordability becomes an issue, you can opt for top-up or super top-up health insurance plans to enhance the coverage limit without a considerable premium outgo.

A top-up or super top-up policy acts like a supplemental health plan. The policy has a deductible limit. Claims up to the deductible limit are not paid. However, if claims exceed the deductible limit, the top-up or super top-up plan pays the excess claim.

However, a top up health insurance plan considers the deductible for each and every individual claim whereas a super top up plan takes an aggregate for the deductible.

Look for Comprehensive Coverage Benefits

The next step in buying the best health plan for the family is to ensure that the plan has all the necessary coverage benefits. Ensuring a comprehensive coverage is important so that all possible medical expenses get covered. Moreover, when considering the coverage benefits, you need to ensure that the benefits are suitable to your requirement.

For example, a newly married couple must opt for a health plan with maternity benefit. This coverage would ensure that when you have a child, the related costs of child birth would be covered by the plan and you would not face any financial burden.

Culled from Forbes Advisor.

To be continued