Health Insurance Plans for Parents

In today's time health insurance for senior citizens is crucial in a lot of ways, some of which are listed below:

1. Old Age Makes You Prone To Illnesses

After an age, a person wishes to retire and survive on the pension or the interest earned from savings. But growing older tends to attract ailments and contraction of diseases. So, in such a case, it is a health insurance policy that can aid you fight back against any kind of ailments.

2. Stress-free Planning With Health Insurance Schemes

Though falling sick is inevitable with ageing, you can still plan to ensure all the urgent medical expenditure is taken care of in a systematic and hassle-free way. A health insurance thus not only takes care of all kinds of medical emergencies knocking at your door but also lets you tackle all of them without worrying about the expenses.

3. Debt Crisis In The Family

Sudden crisis in terms of ailments can be a huge financial blow to your family. If the older individual does not have access to a senior citizen health insurance plan, the breadwinner of the family will have to work harder to pay off health fees, manage household expenses, and repay any loans.This adds to the ill and aged person’s guilt, making them feel like a burden to the family. In order to handle such a crisis effectively, it is health insurance for senior citizens that can certainly unload the burden of managing expenses and the debt crisis. .

The key features of a senior citizen health insurance plan are:

• Premiums paid towards a senior citizen health plan are eligible for tax deductions. Get tax benefit on health insurance premiums
• Comes with a free look period of 15-30 days
• Daycare costs that arise due to the use of special equipment while treating procedures such as dialysis and chemotherapy are covered
• Some plans also cover health check-ups

The inclusions of the policy are as follows -

• In-patient Hospitalization for treatment of injury/accident/disease
• Cashless Hospitalization at network hospitals
• Day care procedures
• Pre-existing diseases post waiting period
• Hospital Room Rent and Ambulance Expenses
• Some insurers offer free medical check-ups once a year
• Critical Illness Rider Option
• Pre and Post Hospitalization expenses
• Organ Donor expenses
• Domiciliary expenses

Here is the list of exclusions:

• Expenses arising from HIV/AIDS/STDs and related diseases
• Non-allopathic treatments, congenital diseases, mental disorder or insanity, cosmetic surgery and weight control treatments
• Self-inflicted injury
• Suicide
• Nuclear, chemical or biological threat
• Pregnancy, dental treatment, external aids
• Alcohol/substance abuse
• Participation in military operations
• Participation in extreme sports

If you want to compare senior citizen medical insurance in India, you need to remember that the type of policy a person wishes to avail depends primarily on:

• Fixed income amount
• Financial status
• Number of dependents
• Health of dependents

While doing a comparison on health insurance plans for senior citizens in India, consider the following parameters:

1. Age

Age plays an important role when buying health insurance for senior citizens in India. As the decision to issue a policy depends vastly on the age, one should buy the required policy at an early age to increase chances of getting better coverage and larger benefits. When it comes to public sector insurance companies, the 60-80 age group is covered under their senior citizen health insurance plans. A few insurers have no age limit and will accept candidates even if they are over the age of 80. Always choose a medical insurance policy that covers a longer period of time.The age limit for renewal varies from one company to another so check the terms and conditions carefully before buying the policy.

2. Number of Insured Persons on the Policy

The number of insured persons in a policy depends on whether you want to add your spouse to your plan, or you prefer buying a separate senior citizen health insurance plan for them. However, please note that the decision should be purely based on the medical conditions and the budget constraints.

3. The Sum Insured

The sum insured is an important factor to consider while comparing different medical insurance plans for senior citizens in India. A rough estimate of medical costs for the entire year will help determine the desired sum insured amount.Consider the spouse’s medical necessities too if they are being covered in the policy.

4. Premiums

Although premiums for senior citizen health insurance policies are higher, they're totally worth it. At a time when you should be resting and enjoying your retirement years, the last thing you should be doing is raising funds to cover medical expenses.A little bit of planning in your budget will easily sail you through the retired phase.

5. Coverage of Specific Diseases

It is important to get the best senior citizens health insurance plan which covers many ailments including critical illnesses with progressing age. Doing so lets you deal with any kind of ailment in the best possible way.

6. Network Hospitals

When you age, nothing beats the comfort of a nearby hospital with a cashless facility. Do enquire about the cashless tie-ups in the hospitals of your choice before making the payment.

Being a senior citizen can seem quite daunting if you don’t plan your life and expenses properly. As you age, there comes an increase in expenses, inflation, risk to health, etc such that a mediclaim health plan for senior citizens seems the best solution to the problems mentioned above. Moreover, if you are planning an early retirement with a regular pension or interest income from savings, a senior citizen mediclaim policy is a must-have.

To boost mediclaim policies for senior citizens, the IRDAI has told insurers to provide coverage to individuals up to 65 years of age. This has enabled individuals to purchase health insurance coverage, even at the later stages of life.

The inclusions under this policy are:

Ambulance charges - Covers expenses for emergency ambulance transport.

Daycare treatments - Covers daycare treatments such as dialysis and other treatments which do not require 24 hour hospitalization.

Hospitalization expenses - Includes room rent, physician consultation fees, doctor’s fee, treatments, etc.

The exclusions under this policy are:

• Treatment cost of HIV/AIDS/STDs
• Cost of lenses/spectacles
• Dental Treatment
• Drug abuse related treatments
• Cosmetic Treatment and Surgery
• Congenital diseases
• Non-allopathic treatments
• Claims raised during the waiting period.
• Ailments diagnosed within 30 days of buying the policy.

Eligibility Criteria - Application for Mediclaim Policy for Family

The eligibility criteria is as follows: Entry age for the policyholder is 46 years, maximum age is 65 years.

The documents required are:

• KYC - Proof of ID and Address
• Proof of Income
• Age Proof
• Medical Check-up/Report if required
• 2 Passport-size photographs
• Application Form
• Documents required for claim under a mediclaim policy for senior citizen

The following documents are required to raise a claim under a mediclaim policy for senior citizens

• Claim Form/Pre-authorization Request Form.
• Attending a physician's statement.
• Attested copies of all medical records.
• NEFT mandate form

For a Death Claim:

• Original policy documents
• Original/attested copy of death certificate issued by the local municipal authority.
• Death claim application form (Form A).
• NEFT mandate form attested by bank authorities along with a cancelled cheque or bank account passbook.
• Nominee's photo identity proof such as copy of Passport, PAN card, Voter identity card, Aadhaar (UID) card, etc.

Medical Natural Death:

• Attending physician's statement (Form 'C').
• Medical records (admission notes, discharge/death summary, test reports, etc.).

Accidental Unnatural Death:

• Copy of the First Information Report (FIR) or Panchanama/Police complaint.
• Copy of Post Mortem report (PMR)/Autopsy and Viscera report.
• Copy of the Final Police Investigation report (FPIR)/Charge sheet.

Buying health insurance for aging parents has to be done carefully as you would want them to deserve the best. Keep the following points in mind while choosing medical insurance for parents above 60 years:

1. Know The Medical History

You must know medical history for your senior citizen parents before purchasing a health insurance policy for them. Unfortunately, they may be unaware of many of the medical conditions that they have. It would be difficult to rely solely on their knowledge of their medical history in such situations.Before providing such information to the insurance company, it is always better to cross-verify.

2. Compare And Choose Plan

There are many existing and new senior citizen medical insurance plans available online in India. It is essential to compare between the different schemes. Comparison between the various health insurance plans for senior citizens can be done on factors such as coverage, price, riders/add-ons, inclusions, and exclusions.

3. Fill Proposal Form

While selecting the policy, it is always imperative that you fill in relevant and accurate information as any fallacy can cause problems to the extent that your insurer will reject the application.

4. Do A Medical Check-up

After submitting the proposal form, the insured will be subjected to a medical checkup. The information about medical issues of the policyholder would be verified by the doctors on the panel of the insurance company. Depending on the health of the insured, a few medical tests would be conducted by the doctor. Some of the tests include lipid profile, blood routine, sugar, urine routine, kidney and liver function, sonography, etc.

Note: There are certain senior citizen medical insurance plans that don’t require pre-policy medical screening tests.