I am 43 years old and have two kids, currently I am posted in Mumbai. My spouse’s age is 39. I want to buy a health insurance policy for my family with three dependents. Please suggest me suitable health insurance policy options, how much insurance cover would be sufficient in Mumbai, and what factors should I look for to choose the right health insurance policy.
,Ashish
there must be at least one 10 -15 lakh base plan in combination with a low cost super top-up plan from the same insurance company. We recommend the following options with Premium:
1. Assurance scheme of 10 lakhs from Niva Bupa + 40 lakhs of recharge super top-up from Niva Bupa – Rs. 24,788 (Aadhaar)+ 2,079(Super Top-up)= 26,867
2. 10 Lakh+ of ProHealth Protect Plan from Manipal Cigna 30 lakh super top-up plan 28,524 (base) + 2,490 (Super Top-up) = 31,014
3. 50 lakhs of Lifetime Health Plan – Domestic from Manipal Cigna Health Insurance Company – 32,214
Factors to consider before choosing the right health insurance:
1. Selecting the Right Sum Assured/Sum Assured: While selecting a health insurance plan, the amount should be selected wisely as it covers medical expenses for one year. One should also take a look at his income level to analyze the affordable premium. One should have a sum insured which is 1.5 times of your annual income (including self + spouse).
2. No Claim Bonus: NCB refers to the incentive given by the insurance company for all the years for which you have not filed a claim. Usually it varies from 5 to 50% per annum depending on the insurance company and the plan. Your coverage amount is increased at the time of subsequent policy renewal for all claim-free years. This factor ensures that the policy is future-ready to increase the sum insured by a large sum every year. This will ensure that the ever rising medical inflation is not included in your sum insured over time.
3. No disease wise capping: It refers to the capping imposed on various diseases irrespective of the sum assured in the policy. There should be no limit to diseases.
4. Capping on hospital room and ICU charges: This refers to the cap on room rent and ICU charges on per day basis. One should consider buying a policy that covers rooms on a single occupancy basis with the actual charges covered for ICU admission.
5. Additional Features: There are facilities like every year refill/annual free health check-up/wellness facilities/OPD etc which make the health insurance policy a “new age health insurance plan”.
Sanjeev Bajaj, Joint Chairman and MD, Bajaj Capital answered this question. Questions and thoughts at mintmoney@livemint.com