How to Reduce Financial Risks With Your Health Insurance Policy?

It is no news that a medical emergency that requires you or a family member to undergo medical treatment, hospitalisation, procedure or surgery can become dreadfully expensive. At times, the cost of these medical bills may even compel you to dip into your savings or sometimes, even avail of a loan or credit facility. This could put the rest of the family members in a difficult position since the money required to sustain them will have been spent on hospitalisation, medication, etc.

If you are the family’s sole breadwinner and fall prey to an accident or critical illness that keeps you from earning, your family will have to not only have to suffer a loss of income for a long period of time but will also have to struggle with the medical expenses.

Additionally, during such difficult times or in the event of your unfortunate and accidental demise, if you have unsettled loans and debts, your family is exposed to a greater financial risk of losing whatever little financial support they have in the form of gold or property.

Hence, to avoid such unpalatable and unwanted situations, it is always better to avail of financial protection with a health insurance policy that is suitable for you and your loved ones.

You can leverage the financial benefits of health insurance to curb your financial risks in the following ways:

• Purchase a health Insurance policy early
  It is a myth that you won’t need health insurance when you’re young. The recent pandemic has shown us that no one is safe from the clutches of death and disease or even accidents. By investing in a health plan at a younger age, not only do you protect yourself and your family, but you can also avail yourself of better coverage at lower premiums.

• Get coverage for the whole family

At Tata AIG, we offer the MediCare line of health insurance plans with three different variants to suit all your needs. You can buy an individual health insurance plan to start with, and then make it a family health insurance plan by adding your spouse or children, once your family grows.

• Buy a senior citizen health insurance plan

Your ageing parents may have special healthcare needs that may not always be met by a family floater health plan. Though family floaters are quite effective, it is advisable to secure your parents with a senior citizen health insurance plan that can offer them more customised coverage for reasonable premiums, ensuring that you all have optimum financial protection with health insurance. Parental insurance plans, such as health insurance for parents, ensure targeted protection against specific illnesses for senior citizens.

• Ensure an adequate sum insured

A health insurance policy is no good if it does not offer sufficient coverage or makes you pay an expensive health insurance premium. Therefore, fixing an optimum sum insured can be a good way to get the desired coverage for your family members while paying affordable health insurance premiums and reaping the financial benefits.

• Enhance the coverage with a super top-up plan

Increasing your sum insured amount need not be an expensive option. If you have a base health plan, you can buy the Tata AIG MediCare Super Top-Up plan for additional health insurance benefits and replenish your exhausted sum insured. And you can get all of this for reasonable premiums!

• Get comprehensive health insurance coverage

A simple and basic health insurance plan can be good for minor emergencies. But if you are looking for extensive coverage that protects you against a wider range of medical contingencies, then a comprehensive health insurance plan is what you need. Such plans ensure that you need not sacrifice your savings when an untoward emergency strikes.

• Choose independent health insurance cover

As a salaried employee, you may enjoy the benefit of being covered under an employer-sponsored health insurance plan. However, these plans may not offer enough features and coverage since the employer has to accommodate several employees. An independent health insurance plan can be a better option, where you can customise the coverage and the riders for enhanced benefits.

• Opt for maternity cover when needed

Maternity health insurance plans are not the same as other health plans. If you compare health insurance plans, the features of a maternity cover are quite different for obvious reasons. Since pregnancy and childbirth can be really expensive, a health insurance plan with maternity cover is a good option to save yourself from financial risks.

• Secure a critical illness benefit

In today’s time, cancer, kidney failure, heart problems and other such critical ailments are quite common. Apart from suffering from the illness, the expenses of these treatments hit you and your family harder. However, if you get a critical illness health insurance cover, you can save yourself from financial troubles since these plans pay out a lump sum benefit once you are diagnosed with a critical illness.

• Avail of cashless health insurance policy

Make it a point to receive the required treatments covered by your health insurance policy at your insurer’s network hospitals. With this benefit, you can avail of cashless health insurance services; after the medical treatment/procedure, your insurance provider will directly settle the medical bill with the hospital so that you do not have to worry about the payments at all. Cashless claim settlements ensure that you are free from the mental burden of payments.

The Tata AIG health insurance policies offer three distinct variants, along with a super top-up cover for all-round protection. The MediCare, MediCare Protect and MediCare Premium plans offer extensive coverage to suit your varied insurance needs. The MediCare Plus Super Top-up plan allows you to enhance your benefits and sum assured, over and above the existing base health plan, at an affordable premium.

The financial impacts of unforeseen emergencies are inevitable, but that is no reason to avoid a health insurance plan. Truth be told, you may not be able to completely eliminate all financial risks with a health insurance plan; however, in the grand scheme of things, you will be able to save a lot on your healthcare expenses and enjoy the financial benefits of health insurance.