Health insurance can be a complicated topic to understand, but it’s one of the most important things to know about. PolicyBaachat helps you get a better understanding of what family health insurance is and how it can help your family. Expenses incurred in case of medical treatment, surgeries, maternity, hospitalization, prescribed drugs, etc. can be claimed through a Health insurance plan.
What is Family Health Insurance?
Family health insurance is a type of health insurance that provides coverage for more than one person in a household. It often includes children, parents, and other dependents who live with the insured person. Most family health insurance plans offer cashless hospitalization facilities, maternity benefits, and cover pre, post-hospitalization as well.
Family health insurance covers the cost of hospital visits, doctor visits, prescription drugs, and other medical expenses for everyone on the plan. You may also be required to pay an annual deductible before your benefits kick in.
Why a Family Health Insurance Plan?
Due to the increased risk of diseases, a family is required to avail Health insurance policy to avoid any sudden financial cases. As a family head we try to make utmost security to our family, we have to plan the Family Health insurance policy in case of abrupt situations. Due to a lack of health insurance policy, a family may be ruined by financial losses.
A family health insurance plan covers a husband and wife with a maximum of 4 children and some insurers cover the parents too if need the parents are covered the single premium will be slightly higher. Take care of your loved one your family with the family insurance policy.
Features of Family Health Insurance
Cashless claim settlement: Family members can avail cashless claim settlement from the network hospitals, a company pays the billed amount directly to the hospital management. Cashless claim settlement helps you to get rid of carrying liquid cash. The insurance policy helps to get the right insurance plan
Terms of policy: Flexible options to opt the plan for 1,2,3 years as per the policyholder requirement.
Restore coverage: A policy can be restored once again after the expiry of the term. This is possible only if the family possesses claim zero claims in that particular period.
No-claim bonus benefit: A family health insurance plan increases the sum assured every year as a part of a no-claim bonus discount. Sum assured increases for zero claims in the preceding year.
Is Family Health Insurance Mandatory?
In today’s world factors affecting health have been increasing rapidly like traffic pollution, food habitats have changed junk food, adverse road accident cases, pollution, the impact of diabetics, frequent heart attack cases increased the risk of hospitalization. Be a step ahead in protecting yourself and your family with the right Health insurance policy online.
Family Health Insurance Coverages:
Buying a policy online will help you tackle health-related issues and avail the best possible medical treatment without worrying about expenses. Mostly, health insurance plans cover you for the following healthcare expenses:
- In-Patient Hospitalisation Expenses: These are the expenses incurred during hospitalization of at least 24 hours. Most health insurance plans cover you for in-patient hospitalization expenses which include room rent, nursing, boarding expenses, cost of medicines, ICU/ICCU expenses, etc.
- Pre-Hospitalisation and Post-Hospitalization Expenses: Pre-hospitalisation and post-hospitalization expenses are the expenses incurred a specific number of days before and after the hospitalization. These generally include expenses related to doctor’s visits, x-rays, medical reports, etc.
- Ambulance Expenses: Health insurance plans often cover you for ambulance expenses arising due to transportation of the patient to the nearest hospital. Generally, there is a limit on cover for ambulance expenses, which can be checked with the insurance company.
- Daycare Expenses: Daycare expenses are those which do not require hospitalization of at least 24 hours. These include chemotherapy, radiotherapy, cataract, dialysis, sinuplasty, etc. health insurance plans cover you for a specific number of daycare procedures, as mentioned in the policy document.
- Domiciliary Hospitalisation Expenses: Domiciliary hospitalization expenses are the expenses that incur due to treatment of an illness availed at home, which otherwise would have required hospitalization. Most health insurance plans cover you for these expenses, the terms and conditions for which can be found in the policy document.
Cashless Treatment:
Generally, insurance companies have tie-ups with hospitals, known as network hospitals that offer cashless treatment to the insured in case of hospitalization. These hospitals reimburse the expenses related to treatment availed by the insured.
This means, you can avail of treatment at these hospitals without paying anything for the medical expenses incurred, and the insurance company will reimburse you for the same later when you make a claim. Note that the claim will be approved if it is made in accordance with the terms and conditions mentioned under the policy.
Portability Benefits:
Health insurance portability allows the policyholders to transfer their existing health insurance policy to a new health insurance provider. It safeguards customers from being taken for granted by the insurance companies, thereby giving them flexibility and offering them better options in case they are not satisfied with their existing health insurance plans.
Financial Security Against Rising Medical Costs:
Considering the rising medical expenses in India, it becomes imperative to get a reliable health insurance policy on time. The policy not only offers you wide coverage but also protects you from hospitalization expenses in case of emergency even during inflation. It not only keeps you stress-free but also takes care of your health.
Tax Benefits
The government promotes health insurance by offering tax deductions on the premium paid for them, under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act, 1961. To know more about tax benefits under health insurance plans, refer to the table below:
No Claim Bonus:
Insurance companies offer a No Claim Bonus (NCB) as a reward to the policyholders for not making any claim during the policy year. Also known as a cumulative bonus, the No Claim Bonus is applicable to both individual health insurance plans as well as family floater health insurance plans. However, note that there is a limit of coverage that you can extend through the No Claim Bonus.
Lifetime Renewability Benefit:
Lifetime renewability benefit allows the policyholder to renew their health insurance policy without any age limit or upper restriction. Especially for senior citizens and parents, the lifetime renewability benefit takes off the financial pressure in case of a medical emergency. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has given guidelines to the insurance providers to offer this benefit under the health insurance plans that they offer.
Benefits of Buying Health Insurance Plans for Family
Health insurance is an agreement where the insurance company agrees to take a guarantee of compensation for medical expenses in case you, as an insured, fall ill or meet with an accident that leads to hospitalization. A health insurance policy covers expenses incurred due to doctor visits, consultation fees, costs incurred due to medical tests, hospitalization expenses, etc.
In today’s times, health insurance has become a necessity. It is important for you and your family to be covered under a reliable health insurance policy mainly because of expensive medical care, especially in the private sector. So, a health insurance policy can prove to be a savior in case of an emergency, especially if the breadwinner of the family is on the bed. It would reduce your stress in case of medical emergencies.
There are many others benefits to having a family health insurance plan. For example, it can be cheaper than an individual plan because it covers more people and you don't have to pay for each person separately. You also get better coverage because it includes things like maternity care or mental health which you might not need if you're single but might need if you have kids or parents who need help with depression or anxiety.
Family Floater Health Insurance Plan
A family floater health insurance plan is a custom-made insurance policy convenient for every member of a family. It is a single policy safeguarding the whole family with all the benefits included.
If a family member falls sick and to be hospitalized, the benefit of family floater health insurance is; the hospitalized can avail the sum assured for his treatment solely. This flexibility helps to get rid of financial instability.
Know the features and benefits of a family floater health insurance policy that is exactly suitable to your family before buying the policy online it is a simple and hassle-free process. Check the best health insurance policy on the health insurance comparison website PolicyBachat, the right destination to buy the right health insurance plan.
A family floater health
insurance policy is the one where the sum insured can be utilized by any of the
family members mentioned in the policy copy. In simple words, the sum insured
floats, and any member of the family can use it to get the hospitalization
benefits.
It is a kind of umbrella coverage available in the health insurance policy where the sum insured is not fixed on an individual basis. For instance, if you take a floater health insurance policy of Rs.5 Lacs anyone in your family can use the whole sum insured without any capping on the sum insured person.
How to Decide the Best Family Health Insurance Policy
Below factors are to be considered before deciding on the best family health insurance plan.
- Coverage v/s Premium:
Coverage in health insurance is also known as sum insured. Coverage and Premium are the most frequently compared things while deciding on the best health insurance policy. But comparing the coverage with the premium charged by the insurance companies is the big mistake people made.
A Family health insurance policy has many things such as cashless treatment, pre, and post-hospitalization cost coverage, Travelling charges, room rental charges, No claim bonus, health check-up benefits, tax benefits and etc. So, before buying the policy consider all the factors because a simple analysis of comparing different health insurance policies against the premium from different insurance companies can only result in disappointment at the time of claim settlement.
- Add-on/ Rider:
Add-on or Rider is the extra coverage that is available under the health insurance premium on payment of additional premium. The base coverage can be extended with the help of add-ons on payment of additional premium.
Careful analysis should be made before deciding on an add-on as the riders are charged by the insurance company limited. The customer should identify the add-on which is necessary as including all the add-ons will only increase the premium with less scope for utilization of all the add-ons.
- No Claim Bonus/ Renewal Bonus:
No claim bonus or the renewal bonus is the increase in sum insured at the time of renewal provided by the insurance company for no claims made in the previous policy year. The maximum renewal bonus or No claim bonus provided by the insurance companies would not exceed 100% of the basic sum insured.
There are few health insurance plans in India that provide a 10% to 50% renewal bonus for each claim-free year. The higher the renewal bonus percentage each year, the higher would be the sum insured at the time of renewal. The best health insurance policy is the one that provides up to 100% renewal bonus or no claim bonus for each claim-free year.
- Network Hospitals:
Network or tie-up hospitals are the hospitals with which the insurance companies enter into an agreement to provide cashless health services to their customers. In cashless medical treatment hospitalization, the customer need not pay medical bills to the hospital.
The insurance company tie-up with those hospitals and they take care of the medical expenses charged by the hospital. The best health insurance policy is the one which has the most number of impaneled hospitals.
- Co-pay:
In Copay the fixed amount of money is must pay each and every time an insured person needs medication. Co-pay is the amount of claim which is to be borne by the insured customer at the time of claim settlement. Most of the health insurance policies have a co-pay clause if there are senior citizens included in the policy.
Higher the co-pay amount selected by the customer the lower would be the health insurance premium. Co-pay is the way of making customers liable and participating in the claim settlement. The best health insurance policy is the one that doesn’t have the co-pay at the time of claim settlement.
- Pre-existing waiting period:
Any illness or disease which exists prior to the inception of the health insurance policy is known as pre-existing disease. Health insurance policies usually have a waiting period only after which the health insurance claim for the existing diseases would be paid.
The pre-existing waiting period would normally range between 2 years to 4 years for different health insurance products available in the market. Higher the pre-existing waiting period, higher would be the time before the claim is settled for pre-existing conditions. The best family health insurance policy is the one with 2 years or less pre-existing waiting period.
Tips to Get Lower Health Insurance Premium
Due to inflation in the health industry, a small treatment may depreciate your wallet, preferring a health insurance policy is the right choice to save your money for recurring treatments. Let’s discuss the tricks and tips to lower your health insurance premium.
- Sum assured: Choosing the right sum assured is vital in health insurance premium, higher sum assured reflects to increase your health insurance premium; lower sum assured to increase the risk of out of pocket expenses in case of treatment. Ideal age, previous health conditions, future inflation ratio are the determinants to guide the right sum assured.
- Buy health policy at a younger age:
Age is one of the deciding factors in reducing the health insurance premium, buying a premium at a younger age will reduce the risk of illness which in turn lowers your premium. The cost of your health insurance policy upsurges as your age increases, due to the impact of diseases favors as the age increases.
- Buy policy online: Buying a health insurance policy online is the right choice as an online insurance policy can save up to 40% on your health insurance premium. An online insurance policy is cheaper than an offline one as the cost of the operation is lower than an offline insurance policy. Get the discounted benefit of the online health insurance policy.
- Policy tenure: Always opt for the longest tenure policy than the yearly term, long tenure policy will avail you a minimum of 10%-15% discount. Compare different health insurance plans for family in India on Policybachat.com where you can find the nation’s top insurer quotes.
- Opt for a family floater plan:
Include your family members for the medical insurance to avail insurance policy to the whole family at a lower cost compared to an individual policy. The main aspect of availing of the insurance policy is to get the insurance plan online.
- Moderate deductible:
Make your deductible (out of pocket expenses at the time of claim) moderate to compensate the premium amount and affordable medical expenses.
A right insurance policy is vital to the benefits included in the plan, follow the above-mentioned steps before buying the policy. Make a prudent decision after concluding the benefits, key features, inclusions, and exclusions before choosing the policy.
Visit PolicyBachat and Compare health insurance plans to get the best health policy for family from the top insurance companies and you can also check the details on risk factors terms conditions and please read the sales brochure carefully before concluding a sale. Need Help? call Policy Bachat at 1800-123-4006 or 1800-123-4003 and our insurance specialist will be there to assist you.