Realizing Health Insurance Benefits And Health Plan

What is health insurance?


The penetration of health insurance which a few years back was virtually absent, is now gaining prominence as people are now realizing health insurance benefits. About 15% of the Indian population is covered under some form of health policy, including government supported medicals schemes.

Buying Health Insurance

There are several companies in India that provide health insurance. Apart from variations in the sum assured and the insurance premium amount there are host of other clauses in the policy which can have material implication for you in case you need to seek a claim. It is important to closely compare the policy, especially with respect to the important terms in the policies. Apart from understanding what each health insurance policy would cover and the key features, it is equally important to know what each of these will not cover. The policy exclusion clause in a health insurance policy would primarily discuss those aspects of insurance which would disallow coverage under certain conditions.

Policy Exclusions

All policies would have clauses that would carve out condition or cases which are excluded from policy coverage and insurance companies would not bear the cost in case such a situation arises. The various exclusions commonly found in insurance policies include:

•Pre–existing illness - From the day you buy your first health insurance policy, up to a few years the coverage of pre-existing illness is disallowed under most policies. The duration for which the coverage is disallowed may vary from policy to policy. It is generally two to four years.

•A few specified illnesses are not covered in the first year of purchase of policies. Make it a point to check this list of specified illness. If domiciliary hospitalization is covered under your policy, there would be a separate list of specified illness which may be excluded from the domiciliary hospitalization for specified duration from the first purchase of policy.

•Check if your policy covers or excludes costs related to treatment of HIV/AIDS.

•Treatment due to abuse of alcohol or inbox

cants is excluded in some policies.

• Most policies would exclude costs related to vaccination and inoculation.

• Costs related to maternity are generally excluded.

• Nuclear and war perils is not included in health insurance policy.

• Naturopathy treatment may not be covered in health insurance policy. If you are looking to buy health insurance policy for yourself, you can do an online comparison of premiums and health insurance exclusions and buy the best health insurance policy for yourself.