Do you have health insurance? Do you think the health insurance provided by your employer is adequate?
There is a popular saying that ‘health is wealth’. In the modern context, deteriorating health has the potential to wipe out all your wealth in a fraction of a second.
Without Health Insurance, getting sick or injured could mean going bankrupt, going without needed care, or even dying needlessly.
– Jan Schakowsky
In the current scenario, health insurance has become the need of the hour. An adequate health plan is essential as it insures the health of you and your family members.
In this article, we will explain health insurance and its importance.
Meaning of Health Insurance
When you take health insurance, the companies take financial responsibility for you and your family member’s health. So, if you are hospitalized, the insurance companies will take care of the hospitalization and other fees.
There are two key ways to claim your expenses on hospitalization. If you are hospitalized in non-network hospitals, you can provide the receipts to get your claims. Here, you pay for the hospital bills upfront.
However, if you seek treatment in a network hospital, you can enjoy cashless hospitalization. This means you don’t have to pay any money. A good number of insurance companies have tie-ups with hospitals and treatment facilities.
Health insurance is a must for everyone. Individuals under 45 years of age can take policies undergoing no health check-ups. The premium that needs to be paid increases with age.
Importance of Health Insurance
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It takes care of your medical expenses
Healthcare costs are expensive and it is likely to skyrocket shortly. The government’s inflation data have shown that health care inflation is almost double the rate of overall inflation. The average retail healthcare inflation in India was 7.14% in the financial year 2018-19. With the ever-increasing cost of health care, a single day in the hospital may wipe out several months’ savings.
With no health insurance, you may have to withdraw money from other investment options such as equity mutual funds in this urgent scenario. As a result, there may be a delay in reaching your financial goals. Health insurance makes sure that your savings and financial goals remain intact.
Insurance takes care of hospitalization expenses and medicine costs. Few plans also cover the cost of pre-hospitalization and post-hospitalization expenses such as ambulance costs, check-up fees, and medical costs.
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Avail Cashless Health Insurance
As mentioned above, many insurers have tie-ups with hospitals to offer cashless treatment to their customers. Hence, customers can avail the treatment by paying no cash. This means you don’t have to pay any money for the treatment and focus on the well-being of your loved ones.
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Entire family protection
Health insurance will cover all your family members. However, taking individual health cover for all your family members can be expensive. A family floater plan that covers the health-related costs of the entire family is an affordable option.
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Covers lifestyle-related diseases
This is the fact that several lifestyle-related diseases have sprung up because of your inactive lifestyle like diabetes, high blood pressure, and cardiac problems are some lifestyle-related diseases. It can lead to other severe health problems.
Health insurance plans cover these lifestyle-related diseases. While it is necessary to be physically active to keep these diseases at bay, with these policies you don’t have to worry about the costs raising due to these issues.
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Avail Tax benefits
Besides helping to cover the healthcare-related costs, you can also save tax on the premium paid. You can save tax up to Rs.25,000 under section 80D of the Income Tax Act in a financial year. The premium paid for you and your spouse and dependent children is considered for tax exemptions.
In Conclusion: Whether you want to protect yourself from the costs arising from coronavirus or lifestyle disease treatment, these policies cover a lot of such diseases. Cashless hospitalization makes it easy for customers to avail themselves of cashless treatment.
Health insurance policies come with a lot of terms and conditions. Hence, it is advisable to sit with your financial advis