What Do You Look For In A Health Insurance? The Policybazaar Show

All of us have quoted ‘Health is Wealth’ more than once in our lives. Yet, today the cost of healthcare is making medical aid less affordable to a major part of the population. What does one do, when it is health on one hand and wealth on another? The answer to this dilemma is health insurance.  Health insurance is the most basic yet most important step in financial planning. The consumer must ensure that he researches well about the plans that are available and chooses the ones that provide the most coverage, for example, laboratory costs, medication, hospitalization, and critical illnesses.  

According to Anika Agarwal, Director and Head- Marketing, Digital and Direct Sales, Max Bupa Health Insurance, millennials today are more aware and conscious about their financial spending, what they plan to do with their life and other long-term goals. There is a change in the youth’s outlook on health insurance and financial planning. The youth now takes an initiative towards availing health insurance at a much earlier stage in their life than they did before.

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The panelists also talked about the health insurance covers that are provided by employers and the comparison of group and individual policies. There are a lot of myths regarding buying health insurance policies like being afraid of getting your medical checkup done. However, an individual doesn't need a medical checkup done for buying a health insurance policy upto the age of 60 years.  Even if you are diabetic or suffering from hypertension, your insurance policy can be issued instantly through tele-underwriting. Group cover or individual policies depend on the firms or health insurance companies providing them. A part of every employee’s insurance is covered by the Employer’s State Insurance Corporation. The rest is covered by the employer who buys group policies for their employees.  

More and more plans are introduced every year and the employers, or the users should themselves try and upgrade their policies for more coverage. More coverage ensures less stress in the skyrocketing pricing that health-care has today. A large group of individuals believes that the group cover policies that are provided by the employers are enough. However, there is a need for individual policies as it provides more personal and custom based coverage that is designed based on the individual.

 THE MYTH BUSTER

The youth believes that the group covers are enough as they are quite young at age with good health conditions and therefore, don’t need individual insurance.  

The myth needs to be busted as there are numerous cases of lifestyle diseases affecting young individuals and depending on the group or corporate cover might be risky as the amount of coverage is not adequate. It's always wiser to buy insurance at an early stage because you get good coverage at a cheaper price.