Health issues are often sudden, scary and sometimes, even serious. Unfortunately, they are all around us and could affect anyone – irrespective of age, gender or resources. The difference is that if a health emergency were to strike, it would probably be a harder blow to an average-income family and their financial foundation. Not to forget, the pressure of rising healthcare costs is enough to punch a hole into your finances, and therefore the shield of health insurance is the only prudent way out here.
However, several income groups may find affordability to be a barrier to buying a policy. To help millions overcome this issue, the insurance industry has designed plans that are cost-effective yet comprehensive. Every individual’s situation is different and so are his or her medical needs. These plans are designed keeping these varied needs in mind.
What makes these plans affordable?
While it’s always recommended to opt for a higher sum insured, the lack of affordability often pushes away the policyholder from buying any insurance altogether. So to avoid a precarious situation, it’s advisable to go for an affordable plan with a sum insured starting from as low as Rs 5 lakh. The premium starts as low as Rs 350/ month or just Rs 11-12 per day. It’s a no-frills plan that caters to your requirements should you need emergency hospitalisation. These plans are designed to save you from the voracious healthcare expenditure without the premiums straining your finances.
There’s a steadily rising demand for affordability in insurance, especially from tier II & III cities. These plans are meant to adequately cover the wider strata of the population who don’t have any kind of health insurance coverage. So, instead of creating a plan and taking it to the consumer, these policies are reverse-engineered and designed keeping in mind the needs of these masses.
Features that aid affordability in these plans
No room rent limit
The best part is that affordability doesn’t come at the cost of coverage in these plans. There’s no room rent limit applicable here, the plans offer at least a single private AC room. So one can pick the room of their choice without having to worry about the room rent limit.
Flexibility in payment frequency
These plans offer the policyholder the option of monthly, quarterly or half-yearly payment. One can choose the frequency that best suits their budget.
Unlimited restoration
The unlimited restoration benefit in these plans truly offers value for money for the policyholder. This benefit gets triggered once the sum insured gets used up entirely or partially, depending on the type of plan. With unlimited restoration, your sum insured automatically gets restored to the base amount once it gets exhausted. With lifelong renewability in health plans, this feature provides comprehensive protection.
Bonus upon renewal
The plans also offer a renewal bonus, which means an increment of sum insured upon the renewal of policy. This increment varies anywhere from 50% to even 100%. This incentivises the policyholder to renew their plan and also make their coverage even more robust.
Tips to further manage your costs
To top it off, these plans also come with the option of voluntary deductions like copay or deductible where you can further bring your premium down. Just make sure that you don’t keep these deductions too high, or else you will have to pay a significant sum out of your own pocket.
If you want comprehensive coverage at an affordable cost, you can also add OPD coverage to your plan. Considering the likelihood of doctor visits, diagnostics, etc is more frequent than hospitalisation, it’s recommended to save up more by adding OPD coverage to your plan, which comes at a fairly reasonable cost.
You can let go of any other additional features or extra riders that could take your premium any higher and keep the core coverage intact, which is what makes these plans affordable.
Understanding your coverage
These plans are widely available, and the online medium has further increased their accessibility. But it’s important that you understand what you’re signing up for. Before you finalise your plan, delve into the details and see if it fits the bill. To make it easier, there are credible online insurance aggregators that provide more transparency to your search. Once you close in on a plan but need further assistance, you can also visit an offline store and get the human support you need to understand your plan in detail.
Why is this especially pivotal to this plan category? It’s because the demand is usually from smaller cities where an amalgamation of online and offline channels works best. While online search makes their journey seamless and fraud-proof, offline channels offer the handholding they need to close the purchase. Adequate protection against rising healthcare costs along with transparency, convenience and assistance – is the ideal balance this consumer segment needs to safeguard their health, family and finances in today’s times.
-The author is Business Head – Health Insurance, Policybazaar.com. Views expressed are personal.
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