Buying health insurance plans for your family can seem challenging at first. However, you can simplify the task by researching and understanding the clauses governing a health insurance plan. You must consider several factors before buying health insurance plans for your family. These considerations will help you in buying the right insurance.
This guide will take you through some of the best tips to help you buy health insurance plans for your family. You must adhere to these tips to get the best health insurance for your family.
Tips to Choose the Right Family Health Insurance Plan
Here are a few tips to help you buy the right health insurance plans for your family.
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Policy Coverage
The coverage of any policy is its most important part. You must read through all the coverage norms before choosing health insurance plans for your family. A good plan covers both pre and post-hospitalisation expenses. It should also cover critical illness and provide cashless treatment at all the network hospitals.
The policy coverage should also include maternity benefits, ambulance charges and all kinds of medical problems that come with a financial burden. Therefore, you should compare the coverage of every plan by going through all the brochures and then pick one that provides the maximum coverage.
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Waiting Period
Most health insurance plans for your family come with a waiting period. Some policies have a waiting period of 2 to 4 years before they cover any maternity charges or any cost related to the treatment of hernia, varicose veins, etc. While the waiting period of 2 years is normal for these situations, some insurance providers have a 2-year waiting period for pre-existing conditions too.
You should try to avoid such insurance policies. It would be best if you looked for health insurance plans for your family with a low waiting period for any pre-existing diseases.
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Flexibility to add more members
Health insurance plans for your family should be extremely flexible. Families are dynamic and more people can get added to a family. Therefore, before buying a family health insurance policy, you should check if adding more members is easy. Also, if a senior member of the family passes away, the policy should continue to exist. The other policy members should be covered, and the same benefits should be offered to the other family members.
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Lifetime Renewability
The renewability of health insurance plans for your family is another important aspect of buying combined insurance. Before buying one for your family, you must check the health insurance policy’s validity and tenure. Renewable health insurance is important as you need it the most during the late years of your life. This makes the lifetime renewability of the plans an important factor to consider.
Also, buying a new health insurance policy comes with its own set of challenges. You will have to research again, and the policy’s clauses might differ. Hence, renewing it is the best way to continue with the same plan for a lifetime.
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Co-Payment Clause
Co-payment refers to the proportion of the health expenses the policyholder has to pay in case of medical treatment or a medical emergency. For instance, if the policy has a 20% co-payment provision and the policyholder incurs an expense of Rs. 1,00,000 during the treatment, they will have to pay Rs. 20,000 from their pocket, and the remaining Rs. 80,000 will be borne by the health insurance provider.
In most cases, individuals want to reduce their premium payments, which leads to an increase in the co-payment rate. However, if the co-payment percentage is high, the policyholder will have to bear a substantial cost from their pocket, and the remaining will be taken care of by the health insurance company. Therefore, you should try to look for insurance policies with a minimal or no co-payment rate, as it will keep you away from medical expenses.
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Limit of Room Rent
Depending on the type of plan selected by the policyholder, the insured will receive a shared room, semi-private room, or private room in the event of any medical emergency. Selecting a policy with a greater room rent cap is advisable to avoid paying more out of pocket.
Wrapping Up
Buying health insurance plans for your family or just comparing them can seem like a time-consuming task, but buying such a policy is very important for people who have a family as it protects them and their family members from the financial burden of getting treated or the one that comes with a medical emergency. Therefore, you must look for important clauses and reach out to the service provider with your doubts.