What do you think is the best and most industrious way to ensure the protection of your health? I bet a health insurance policy because of the unprecedented benefits.
If you have health insurance, then you do not necessarily need to worry about your medical expenses and hospital bills. However, things are not ideal every time and you cannot escape extreme atmospheric conditions and so do health issues.
Before we proceed further, let me ask you, do you have a health insurance policy? I suppose not.
What could be the reason you never experienced the need of health insurance? Well, not just one but there could be many reasons why you never purchased a health plan. One of those reasons could be affordability of the premium. For more details, read below:
Understanding Premium & Making It Affordable
The term premium refers to the amount of money you are liable to pay to your insurer so as to avail certain benefits in particular. A health insurance policy provides assured benefits, such as cashless hospitalization, claim reimbursement and more such features to the policyholder. In exchange for that, the company seeks an annual premium.
When it comes to premium, the amount payable varies from one insurer to another. In general, the premium is stipulated by the insurer with respect to the coverage offered by the policy, which mean that the higher the coverage selected the larger the premium to be paid. However, there are multiple ways you can reduce your health insurance premium as explained below:
1. Buy Insurance at an Early Age
Out of various factors based on which your health insurance premium is calculated, one essential factor is your age. In other words, the older you are the larger premium you have to pay for health coverage.
For instance, if you purchase a health insurance policy when you are 25, then the premium you have to pay will be much less in comparison to what you will be paying for a similar coverage when you will be 50 or above. This is because you are less prone to diseases at a young age and most insurance companies do not require you to undergo a pre-policy medical checkup.
Thus, it is evident that you will pay a lesser premium at a young age. Hence, it is prudent and highly recommended to purchase health insurance when you are young.
2. Purchase A Family Floater Policy
Family floater policies are cost-effective as compared to individual ones. Below is a justification for this statement:
A family floater plan covers a family of 4 to 6 members, i.e. 2 Adults and 2 Children (or 4 Children). Under such a plan, there is a fixed sum assured and each member of the family is covered for it. Alternatively, we can say that there is one sum assured while persons covered are 4 to 6. This also means that the premium is only one and not for every individual who is covered. Besides, many other formalities, including paperwork will also be done once only. If more than one person is earning in the family, then the premium can be divided among them.
Contrast to the family floaters, irrespective of whether the sum assured is 2 Lakh or 10 Lakh, the premium is payable by one person, in case of an individual health insurance plan. Sometimes, this becomes a burden on an individual’s shoulders to pay from his/her pocket.
Therefore, purchasing a family floater health insurance plan is a wise and certainly an industrious decision.
Shop Around
When you have things clear in your mind regarding what you are seeking from a health insurance plan, then it becomes quite easy for you to shop around for the plan that meets your requirements. The thumb rule is to look out for a plan that covers maximum number of pre-existing diseases.
The best as well as the easiest way to do your research is to go online and see what all you can get in a single plan. The Internet is the best platform to perform this research since you do not have to go and meet different insurance agents in person. You can simply download policy wordings of different plans and compare them all in terms of inclusions and exclusions.
Compare Plans
The Internet is the best platform to compare various health insurance plans in the easiest and simplest manner. Today, you have multiple websites that allow you to compare insurance plans of different types. Through comparison, you can see the difference between the coverage offered by different insurance companies.
For instance, when you compare two health insurance plans, you can see which one of those plans is offering more daycare procedures, which one is asking for a higher premium and so on. In fact, your decision to purchase a health plan should be based on the basic principle of business – to get the highest and pay the least without compromising on the quality (i.e. coverage in this perspective).
Keep One Insurer
Since health insurance is a product of general insurance companies, you can ask for a special discount in the premium. In exchange for that, you can switch from your other insurers from which you have purchased your car/bike insurance, personal accident insurance, or travel insurance if you have a plan to go on a family tour.
Although it is not quite sure that if your health insurer will offer you a discount in the premium, you can still ask for it.
What do You Say?
Everyone needs an assurance of the safety of their health. All they need to do is purchase a health insurance policy that offers sufficient coverage. When we say coverage, we mean the essential benefits, viz. cashless hospitalization, expense reimbursement – pre and post hospitalization subject to the policy terms, including inpatient hospitalization and more. By comparing various health plans online, the decision to purchase a policy with adequate coverage becomes easier.
I just purchased health insurance on my own. I worked with an independent rep to find the best plan. Overall, I’m pretty happy with my high-deductible plan. I no longer have an employer covering premiums, it’s nice to save on that monthly expense. I plan on taking advantage of a health savings account ASAP.
I’m creating a “self employment plan” for the future. In my forecast I included health insurance and also a monthly “contribution” for monthly medical check ups. I haven’t checked out health plans yet, but I’m expecting them to be kind of high and that makes me very nervous.