What is Health Insurance? Definition, Types, And Benefits Explained

Health insurance plans are widely bought by the individuals to get protection against the high cost of medical treatments at the private hospitals. Before investing in a Health insurance, it is advised to carefully analyze your requirements and then invest in a suitable health insurance plan.

About Health Insurance Plans

A health insurance plan is a contract between the insurer and the policyholder abiding to which the health insurance companies offer financial aid to the policyholder in case of a medical emergency. It offers several features and benefits to the policyholders at an affordable price and ensures them quality treatment irrespective of the monetary constraints. You can customize your plans based on your choices and requirements, therefore you must analyze your requirements before investing in a particular health insurance plan.

Types of Health Insurance Plans

There are a plethora of options in the insurance market which gives the policyholders the choice to invest in a particular type of health insurance plan:

• Individual Insurance Plan

The Individual health insurance plan compensates for a single individual and comes with benefits like ambulance expenses, room rents, domiciliary expenses, medication fees, etc. This health insurance cover comes with an extensive coverage and high claim amount for the individuals.

Must Read: Things You Should Know When Buying Health Insurance for Pre-Existing Conditions

• Family Floater Plans

These plans are meant to cover your entire family under a single policy. The family health insurance plan can insure you, along with your spouse, children, and dependent parents. Health Insurance for family offers extensive coverage to ensure sufficient coverage for each family member insured under the plan.

• Group Health Insurance Plans

Also known as employer health insurance plans, these health insurance policies cover a large group of people under a single policy. These plans are purchased by a company, institution, or an organization for its employees and their families. It protects the employees of a company against the high costs of treatments incurred during hospitalization.

• Senior Citizen Health Insurance Plans

Senior Citizen's health insurance plan is exclusively offered to meet the demands of the senior citizens separately. The premium for such plans is usually more than a standard health insurance plan but it is highly beneficial for senior citizens at the time of medical emergency as it has a larger claim amount.

• Maternity Benefit Insurance Plans

Maternity health insurance plans offer coverage to the mothers and their newborn babies against any medical expenses at the time of giving birth. It compensates for the vaccination charges, delivery costs, consultation, checkups, medications, etc.

• Critical Illness Insurance Plans

Critical Illness health insurance plan can be bought either as a regular plan or as an additional cover. It provides monetary compensation for medical expenditures incurred during the treatment of critical diseases like cancer, diabetes, hypertension, stroke, lung diseases, etc. generally 32 critical disorders are listed under this plan and it comes with a higher claim amount. The list of critical diseases are specified by the insurer and can differ from one insurer to the other.

Benefits of Having A Health Insurance Plan

Let us look at some of the prominent benefits of health insurance plans that can be availed by the policyholders:

• Cashless claim perks are available at the network hospitals of the insurer that makes the claim settlement process quick and smooth for the policyholders during an emergency.
• The plan offers compensation for expenditures like room rents, domiciliary expenses, inpatient costs, ambulance charges, organ donor expenses, etc.
• The health insurance plans offer tax saving benefits on the premium amount of the policyholders who are also taxpayers.
• Policyholders are awarded with a no claim bonus (NCB), as their accumulated benefits for every claim free year during the policy period.
• The customers also get access to complementary medical checkups in private hospitals.

Conclusion

Health insurance plans have gained immense importance in the past few years due to the spread of the global pandemic. Therefore, you must also invest in a suitable health insurance plan that can help you at the time of a medical emergency. You must carefully consider the terms of your desired health insurance plan to avoid any confusion at the time of the claim settling procedure.

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.