Understand Types Of Health Insurance Policies Available in India
If you are just getting started in life and in your career, and you appreciate the benefits of enrolling in a health insurance plan early in life, but need a little help in choosing your Mediclaim, here are some things to note and get you started.
Possibly, the Human Resources department in your company requested your action on Mediclaim cover provided by the company. Around the same time, a friendly insurance agent has been asking for an appointment to explain the benefits of some new plans. Personally too, you could be researching health insurance on the internet and hearing words like Group health insurance, individual insurance, family floater plan, critical care cover, specific illness protection plan, and now Covid-19 protection plan, as well. Let us look at them, one by one.
Group Health Insurance
We mention this as the first one as most people need to enrol for a Mediclaim with their employer. Mediclaim that an employer provides is a coverage for all employees of the company where the company pays a premium for covering the employee for a fixed sum insured amount and number of family members. Additional coverage or options for enrolling additional members are usually limited or available on payment by the employee. Group health insurance is a standard offering for all employees of a company provided by an employer. There could be a co-pay clause in the insurance which means a percentage of the expense may need to be borne by the insured.
Individual Health Insurance
We spoke about your friendly agent asking for an appointment to show you some new plans. Your insurance agent is trying to explain individual health insurance products that insurance companies offer to individuals seeking health coverage outside of or in addition to group health insurance provided by employers.
Family Floater Insurance
Continuing from the above example of the insurance agent, the products that your agent explains are of two types, generally: Individual cover or family floater. A family floater is similar to your Individual health insurance because it is bought by you and not provided by your employer. The difference between individual and family floaters is that in an individual plan you cover each family member individually, either on the same plan or separate plans, whereas in a family floater all members are covered under one health insurance plan on a family floater basis. So, the sum insured in this case is available to any member enrolled in this plan and is, therefore, known as a “floater”.
Critical Illness Plans
Some insurance companies also offer special illness coverage like Dengue and more recently for Covid-19. Usually these plans work as indemnity plans. There are various critical illnesses which are covered under these plans such as cancer, kidney failure, heart attack, paralysis, etc.
Critical Care Insurance: Critical care insurance is different from health insurance. In health insurance, the expense is reimbursed, but in case of critical care insurance, a fixed lump sum amount is paid upon an insured individual’s diagnosis of critical illnesses defined in the policy. The policy holder can file a claim even without undergoing any treatment first. One such example of this type of is Corona Rakshak Plans.
Conclusion
With so many types of insurance products, it is recommended to spend some time understanding the product offering and the features and benefits of the different types of health insurance to make an informed decision.
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Disclaimer: This article is issued in the general public interest and meant for general information purposes only. Readers are advised not to rely on the contents of the article as conclusive in nature and should research further or consult an expert in this regard.
