Key Elements To Evaluate Your Existing Health Insurance Cover

It is quite common for policy holders to end up availing health insurance in India without prior research or understanding of the benefits and regret later. This happens mainly due to carelessness or persuading pressure from the insuring companies.

Key Elements To Evaluate Your Existing Health Insurance Cover

It also leads to complete dissatisfaction of the individuals willing to terminate or dump the policy in the long run. However, the first question that comes to our mind is: Is it possible to dump our policies before expiration of the tenure? The answer is YES! However, there are several procedures involved. One must also understand the amount of return will not be as it was promised during the proposal.

Pressure From Insuring Companies

Approximately 60% of the policy bearers are unsatisfied with the policy benefits offered by the health insurance, with a greater percent of people being above 60 years of age. The primary reason of dissatisfaction from health insurance in India results from policies bought without prior research. This also happens in case the policyholder buys an insurance under the pressure of an acquaintance or agent who fails to put both the pros and cons on the table.

Room Rent Sub-Limits

Room rent sub-limits refer to the maximum value which an insurer has to pay towards a room rent. For example, for a policy of 4 lakhs INR availed 20 years ago charging 1% room rent every day will subject to 4000 INR charged every day. If this occurs, it is better to search for an alternative health insurance cover for the best.

Unexpected Renewal Hikes

Renewal hikes are also one of the important reasons for dissatisfaction by people mostly belonging to the group of senior citizens. In many cases, the premium of renewed health insurance plans surge manifolds which crosses the expected annual premium value. Sometimes, it becomes unaffordable for the policyholder to continue the premium leaving the policy bearers with no choice but to let it lapse. It is highly recommended to the policyholders that any surge in the annual premium rates that crosses the pre-settled or expected value, must be monitored and terminated when not convenient for them.

Expected Refund In Case Of No Claim Bonus

People are solely advised to opt for the best health insurances that suit their needs completely. However, if unsatisfied, premiums covered under health insurance plans terminated within a certain period of time can be refunded by the insuring company provided the terms and conditions are followed wisely. Though the sum cannot be completely refunded, much of the amount depends on the period within which it is being claimed and prior claims of benefits made in history. Policyholders who have not made any claim of policy benefits within the tenure of the policy can successfully claim for a refund while dumping the health insurance policy. The refundable amount, however, depends on two factors-

• Free look period

Any health insurance plan can be dumped or suspended within a free look period. Free look period is the time interval of less than a month (approximately 15 days) after buying the policy, within which, the policyholder can successfully avail the maximum refundable amount. Apart from the stamp charges and the administration fees, the insuring company returns the entire sum of premium submitted.

• Within The First Year Of Policy

In case a policy bearer wishes to dump the health insurance policy and expects a refund of a certain amount of the premium, it is best to terminate within the first few months itself. With the increase in policy period, the percent of refundable money keeps on decreasing. The amount refunded by the insurer within the first month of the policy is greater than that returned after 3 months, which is again greater than the one refunded within 6 months. After 6 months, generally no amount will be refunded.

Co-Paying Alternatives

Co-paying can eat a huge chunk of the health insurance policy. It is mostly stated for certain diseases, surgeries and conditions which is not completely covered by the insuring company and might lead to a huge amount subjected to payment by the policyholder. The health insurance coverage provided by the insuring companies always come with a set of rules and regulations. This also includes clauses and conditions for termination and suspension of a health insurance policy prior to the expiration. Such conditions should be checked twice before signing the proposal. However, the policy holder should double check the benefits in the first place and agree to the policy only if it suits his/her needs completely.