How To Buy a Critical Health Insurance Policy

Critical Illness (CI) is an unwelcome guest that can take a toll on your health and financial planning. Cancer, heart attack, paralysis, etc., are some of the most common critical illnesses that are prominent among both men and women. The worst part of such diseases is that the treatment cost can cause a deep hole in your pocket.

So, how do you mitigate the situation? Well, the answer is simple, purchase a comprehensive health insurance that provides coverage against critical illnesses. If your existing policy does not cover them, you may have to purchase a separate critical health insurance.

Today, many insurance companies offer different health insurance policies, and if you are a first-time insurance buyer, choosing the right critical illness plan can be confusing. So, in this write-up, we discuss a few tips to help you choose the right plan.

Know How The Critical Illness Insurance Plan Works

When you buy any type of medical insurance policy, you must know how the plan works. Generally, under the critical illness plan, the insurance company pays a lump sum amount if you are diagnosed with any of the critical illnesses covered by the policy.

The amount you get is fixed, and you get the full sum insured, irrespective of the actual treatment cost. This means you can use the amount to pay off the treatment expenses, and if you have surplus, you can use it to pay off your debts or any other purposes you want.

Check the premium

Premium is the amount you pay to the insurance company at specific intervals to keep your health insurance policy active. The premium may vary based on several factors like policy tenure, sum insured you choose, age, medical history, etc.

You can use the health insurance premium calculator available on the insurance company’s website to compute the premium for the plan you choose. This way, you can choose a plan that protects you from financial losses in the future and is easy on your pockets.

Be aware of the exclusions

Before you sign the policy documents, you must check the exclusions in your critical health insurance policy. Exclusions are situations where the insurance company is not liable to pay for the medical expenses. You must be aware of the different conditions and the medical procedures that the policy does not cover. Critical illness policies like Kotak Secure Shield offer maximum coverage with minimal exclusions.

Ask the insurer about the waiting period

Every health insurance policy has a certain waiting period. It refers to the period where the insurance company is not liable to pay for your medical expenses. When you buy a critical insurance policy, you must ask the insurer about the waiting period.

Generally, critical health insurance policies have a waiting period of 90 days from the commencement of the policy. Also, there could be a waiting period for pre-existing diseases which can range from four months to four years. Hence, it is better to buy a CI plan that has the lowest waiting period.

Know about sub-limits

Sub-limit is one of the important features you must consider while buying CI plans. Generally, CI plans have a sub-limit on the hospital room rent or the bed charges and sub-limit on treatment of specific diseases.

Sub-limit is essentially the maximum compensation the insurer is liable to pay for specific expenses.

Let us understand this with an example.

Let us assume your policy has a sub-limit of 10% on the room rent. Now, when you get admitted to the hospital, suppose the daily room rent isRs.1000 per day. When you file a request, the insurer will pay onlyRs.900 per day. The balance amount you must pay from your pocket.

Critical Illness Insurance A Necessity for All

In view of the rising medical inflation and the growing risk of suffering from various lifestyle-related diseases, it is better to have a financial cushion. The treatment of critical illnesses is expensive, and it can drain off your entire savings in one go. Hence, it is advisable to purchase a critical illness insurance policy. You can check the wide range of plans offered by Kotak General Insurance that are comprehensive with affordable premium and wider coverage benefits.