Find the Best Medical Insurance Plans?

• Caps and sub-limits - Imposition of sub limits, co-payments or other caps might reduce the premium you pay for the insurance policy but in the long run it would alter the benefits. You should understand and assess this factor vis-à-vis your requirement and paying capacity to get maximum benefit out of a health insurance plan.
• Claim settlement record - This is an important criterion to assess the credentials of a insurance provider. You should always go with a company with has good claim settlement record. Thus you can ensure that your claims and reimbursements would not be wrongly withheld. Always ask for the company’s claim settlement ratio before purchasing their health plan and save yourself from unnecessary harassment.
• Scope of coverage - Just don’t buy a plan by comparing health insurance premium. Less amount of premium does not necessarily mean a good plan. On the contrary such a plan might not cover your needs properly. Closely look at what the plan covers. Buy a comprehensive plan. Scope of coverage essentially means the scope of protection provided under a contract of insurance, covering several risks covered by a policy.
• Renewability - It is important to see how many years the plan proposes to cover you. You should not be left without a proper cover when you need the most, say during your old age. Health insurance Mediclaim policies are usually annual contracts. The automatic re-establishment of in-force status effected by payment of premium is known as renewal. In other words, the issuance of a new policy or the continuation of a current policy that is effective once the old policy’s plan year ends is termed as renewal. At the end of the policy period, the policy has to be renewed by the policyholder. There should be continuous renewal of the policy, because if there is a break, then in the event of a contingency, the insured will lose the benefits of insurance.
• Cashless Hospital Network - Check if the hospitals around you are covered as a network hospital by the company you are considering to buy from. Cashless hospitalisation is hassle free and seamless. You and your family won’t be required to run around collecting documents and filling reimbursements. The insurer or its Third Party Administrator (TPA) have tie-ups with a network of hospitals and nursing homes called a “network hospital” across the country. The insured can get themselves admitted in these specified network hospitals and take treatment for the disease contracted without payment of cash. However cashless mediclaim settlement is subject to limits and sub-limits which are subject to the sum insured of the policy.
• Premium Loading - Loading is an additional cost built into the insurance policy to cover losses which are higher than anticipated for an insurance company, arising from insuring a person who is prone to a form of risk. Premium Loading is the amount an insurer needs to cover its expenses and generate profit. We would strongly recommend you to check the terms and conditions pertaining to premium loading. This will save you from paying a high incremental premium post making a claim. This aspect though ignored in the beginning usually becomes a bone of discontentment at a later stage. The best practice would be to verify the premium fluctuation data of the plan for previous 5 years at the very least.
• Internal Team - Check for the plans from insurers who have a dedicated internal team for handling Mediclaim. This comes in handy while expediting the Mediclaim claim settlement process. Most of the players use a third-party administrator (TPA) to process the claims and do the paperwork. Even though, most of these TPA provide great services, the fact that they are a third party slows down the process. There are certain rules and regulations to be followed when a TPA processes a claim before it is handed over to the insurance company. These affect the turnaround time.
• Floater (family) Size - Everyone has a different family size so you should always look for the family floater size allowed under the plan before buying it. In case, you are a person in your late 20s and your parents in their 40s, 50s or 60s already have a cover, then it makes sense if you buy an individual cover. Alternatively, if you are married with or without kids and have dependent parents, parents-in-law, siblings, etc. then a family floater is the best policy for you. Checking the premium, family size covered, critical illnesses or other treatment covered will ensure you are able to purchase the plan you need.
• Health Insurance Portability - It is best to choose a health insurance company that offers health insurance portability. Earlier, policyholders had to stick to a policy just to retain the waiting period benefit. Now, health insurance portability allows one to switch from one health insurance company to another without losing waiting period benefits earned in your existing policy. Moreover, with the policy landscape changing so regularly, life insurance companies regularly come up with better policies and it will make sense to opt for health insurance portability. Also, some companies may charge if you prefer to move away from their plans to some other players using the free health insurance portability option provide by the new company. Ensure you do not end up paying for health insurance portability instead of staying with the old insurer. Health insurance portability is a good thing to check when you are finding the best health insurance policy or mediclaim for yourself.