Top Reasons to Buy a Health Insurance Plan

Read Time:4 Minute, 24 Second

Medical inflation is on the rise making treatments expensive. If you get hospitalized for a critical illness or lifestyle disease, you may end up losing all your savings. The only way to afford quality medical treatment during a health emergency is by buying a health insurance policy. Take a look at some of the top reasons to buy a health insurance plan below:

Beat Medical Inflation – A health insurance policy can help you pay your medical bills, including pre and post-hospitalization expenses, today as well as in future despite the rising medical costs.
Afford Quality Medical Treatment – It helps you to afford the best quality medical treatment and care so that you can focus only on getting cured.
Fight Lifestyle Diseases – It allows you to pay for the long-term treatment of lifestyle diseases like cancer, heart ailments, etc., that have been on the rise with the changing lifestyles.
Protect Your Savings – It helps you to protect your hard-earned savings by covering your medical expenses so that you can avail the required treatment without any financial worries.
Avail Cashless Hospitalization Facility – It allows you to obtain a cashless hospitalization facility at any of the network hospitals of your insurance provider by raising a cashless claim.
Get Tax Benefits – It enables you to save tax on the health insurance premium that you’ve paid under section 80D of the Income Tax Act for better financial planning.
Ensure Peace of Mind – It allows you to obtain medical treatment with peace of mind as you do not have to worry about paying hefty hospital bills.
Health Insurance buying checklist

Waiting Period
You should buy a health insurance policy with a minimal waiting period. The lower is the waiting period, the sooner you will be able to avail coverage. You should go through the policy terms & conditions carefully and check the waiting period before buying a policy.

Co-payment
You should opt for a health insurance plan with no co-payment. Without co-payment, you will not have to make any out-of-pocket expenses for each claim. You can check the policy documents to know about any applicable co-payment before buying the policy.
Preventive Health Check-up
You must choose a health insurance plan that offers free preventive health check-up facilities every year. With this benefit, you don’t need to pay for annual medical examinations. You can check the policy benefits while buying to know about preventive health check-up facilities.

Grace Period
You should buy a health insurance policy that offers the maximum grace period. A bigger grace period gives you more time to renew your policy after the due date has passed. You can read the policy wordings to find the exact grace period available under the policy.
Restore Benefits
You should purchase a health insurance plan that offers 100% restore benefits. With restore benefit, your sum insured amount will be fully restored as soon as it gets exhausted after a claim. You can check the policy documents to know if the restore benefit is available

No Claim Bonus
You should pick a health insurance plan with the maximum No Claim Bonus/Cumulative Bonus for every claim-free year. The higher is your No Claim Bonus, the higher will be the increase in your sum insured. You must read the policy documents before buying to know about NCB
Sub-limits
You should buy a health insurance plan that comes with no sub-limits. Without sub-limits, you will be free to raise a claim up to the sum insured amount. You can go through the policy wordings to find out about any applicable sub-limits under the health plan.

Network Hospitals
You should choose a health insurance company with the largest network of hospitals in India. The more is the number of network hospitals, the more likely you are to avail cashless treatment in your locality. You can check the network hospitals’ list before buying a health policy
Benefits of Buying Health Insurance Plans Online
Buying a health insurance policy online comes with several benefits. Take a look at them below:
Easier to Compare Plans – It is easier to compare health insurance plans from different insurers online at websites like Policybazaar.com to make an informed decision.
More Convenient – It is more convenient to buy the policy online as you do not have to visit the branch of the insurance company or take an appointment to meet an insurance agent.
Online Discounts – It allows you to avail discount on premiums for buying the policy online.
Lower Premiums – Health plans are available for a lower premium online as insurance companies save a lot on operational costs.
Minimal Paperwork – The process of buying a health insurance policy online involves minimum to zero paperwork.
Policy Available 24×7 – A health insurance policy can be purchased online any time of the day, even on public holidays, which is not possible in offline buying.
Digital Payment Options – It allows you to avoid cash payments and use digital payment methods to pay the premium online safely.
Time-saving – It saves you a lot of time as the policy is issued within a few minutes of buying.