Health Insurance Cover Beyond Corporate Cover – DIY Part III

Do you think that there’s no need for personal health insurance cover as you’re covered under corporate health insurance cover?

Recently, I conducted a poll on one of the famous Facebook groups for personal finance. The poll was as follows:

Are you scared of losing your job once this corona virus crisis is over?

There were about 36% of people who said yes whereas 64% of people said no. (While I was writing this article, the poll had already received around 255 responses.)

I don’t know how many of these people have personal health insurance cover. But the situation of becoming jobless is going to be really scary if recession kicks in for real. Once your job is gone, so would be your corporate health insurance cover.

I’ve always advised people to take personal health insurance cover beyond the corporate cover which is provided by their employer. But everyone takes it so lightly. Most of the time, people argue that they’ll purchase it later as they’re currently covered under corporate health insurance cover.

Now I ask you a question – What if you lose your job and a medical emergency strikes before you get a new job? What if your new employer doesn’t have a mediclaim scheme when you switch jobs?

Most of the people say that I’ll purchase a personal health insurance cover only if I lose/switch my job. Why should I spend an extra amount of money every year if I can get the cover anytime, I want.

The answer raises a more pertinent question – What if the insurance company denies the cover at a later stage if you’re not in good health?

The basic assumption to purchase it at a later stage is that people think that they’ll always stay healthy. Can you really guarantee that you’ll stay healthy for the next 5/10/15 years? With the current scenario of chronic stress in job, personal life, it’s indeed difficult to guarantee. And I’ve seen many cases where the insurance companies are denying health insurance policies even for health issues like thyroid.

What if I say that you can get a 30 Lakhs health insurance cover for your entire family? And that too with an annual premium of Rs. 20,000 – Rs. 25,000 if you’re below age 45.

We’ll come to the cost at a later stage. But first, let’s see which option you should choose for the health insurance cover.

Types Of Health Insurance Cover

There are 2 types of health insurance cover.

1. Individual Health Insurance – It covers the hospitalization expenses for an individual for up to the sum assured limit.
2. Family Floater Health Insurance – It covers expenses for the entire family up to the sum assured limit.

Let me explain it with the help of an example.

Individual Health Insurance – If you’ve 2 family members, you can get an individual cover of Rs 2 lakhs each. In this case, each of you is covered for 2 lakhs. If 2 members face a need for hospitalization, each of you can get expenses recovered up to Rs 2 lakhs. Hence, these 2 policies are independent.

Family Floater Health Insurance – In this case, if suppose there’re 4 family members, you can take a Family floater policy of Rs 5 lakhs. Now, anyone can claim up to 5 lakhs for expenses. But then the cover will go down by that much amount for that particular year. So if one of the family members is hospitalized and the expenses are 3 lakhs, it’ll be paid. And then the cover will be reduced to 2 lakhs for that particular year. Next year again, it will start fresh from 5 lakhs.

Which One To Choose – Individual Or Family Floater

The concept of choosing the type of health insurance policy is very straightforward and simple.

1. Choose Individual Health Insurance if you’re young and single. Don’t include your parents in the policy, buy a separate one for yourself.
2. Purchase an individual health insurance policy for your parents.
3. If you’re suffering from any disease like diabetes, BP etc., purchase an individual policy for self. And buy a separate policy for your family.
4. Purchase family floater health insurance if you’re married, have kids and most importantly, you’re healthy.
5. If any family member is suffering from any disease, buy a separate individual health cover for them. Purchase a family floater for the rest of the family.
6. Also, If your age is on a higher side, purchase an individual health insurance policy.

Health Insurance – How Much Should I Insure For?

Though, there is no standard answer for this. One must look at his lifestyle, health, age, life stage, family history of illnesses and affordability to decide the amount. But with the current inflation in the healthcare sector, you should’ve a health insurance cover of at least 25-30 Lakhs.

Also, note that many health insurance policies “provide additional covers” such as daily allowance, ambulance charges, etc., for hospitalization. Not only are such “covers” superfluous, but they also tend to drive the premiums higher. It’s better to avoid such plans and stick to something basic and simple, if you want the maximum value for money.

How Much Would Be The Premium?

The premium for a 30-Lakh cover wouldn’t be more than Rs. 20000-Rs. 25000 for a family floater health insurance policy. (If you purchase a combination of base policy and super top-up policy.) Click on the link given below to read more about super top-up policies.

How Super Top-Up policies reduce your premium?

A base cover of 5-10 Lakhs and a super top-up cover of 20-30 Lakhs is ideally suggested.

Which Is The Best Company To Purchase Health Insurance Policy?

I don’t have a definite answer for this. You’ll have to research on your own to select the best company as per your needs. Though there’re a few points you must consider before zeroing down on a health insurance policy.

1. Don’t purchase a health insurance policy which has room rent sub-limits – most of the Govt. health insurance companies usually have room rent sub-limits in their health insurance policies.
2. Check the network of hospitals for a particular health insurance company.
3. Waiting period for pre-existing diseases if any.
4. The company providing base health cover plus super top-up cover.

I’d suggest the following companies taking into consideration the criterions mentioned above.

1. Max Bupa

1. 1. Base Policy – Health Companion
   2. Super Top Up Policy – Health Recharge

2. ICICI Lombard

1. 1. Base Policy – Complete Health Insurance
   2. Super Top Up Policy – Health Booster

3. HDFC Ergo

1. 1. Base Policy – my: Heath Suraksha
   2. Super Top Up Policy – my: health Medisure Super Top-up (Apollo Munich customers can also opt for the HDFC super top-up plan)

4. Religare

1. 1. Base Policy – Care
   2. Super Top Up Policy – Enhance

5. Star Health

1. 1. Base Policy – Star Comprehensive Insurance Policy
   2. Super Top Up Policy – Super Surplus (Choose Gold Option Only)

This was all about health insurance, the 2^nd step to become a successful DIY investor. If you have any queries, please feel free to write without hesitation.

So, stay safe and purchase a personal health insurance cover now