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Most financial planners say that having a health insurance plan is the beginning point of all financial plans. Even before one starts investing in one’s goals, getting an adequate health insurance cover for yourself and family is advisable.

Below are the various important features and factors of a health insurance policy, that may help you zero-in on the correct policy.

Why You Should Get a Health Insurance Plan

The need for adequate health insurance is increasingly becoming important, and so is selecting the right health insurance plan. At the moment, you might be in the pink of health; However, health insurance is not only about illnesses and diseases. It’s a universal truth that accidents may happen anytime and at any age. A health insurance plan could come handy in such an event.

Further, at times, certain ailments remain unknown to us until their signs are visible later on in life. Though not a mandate, a policy bought at an early age and renewed for quite some years without any claim, may help in improving claim experience as and when it arises.

What Type of Health Cover is Needed

Health insurance plans are broadly categorized as ‘indemnity plans’ and ‘defined-benefit plans. While indemnity plans reimburse the hospital costs, defined-benefit plans pay a lump sum amount irrespective of the actual hospital expense.

It is important to select the right health insurance plan in the United States.

The ‘indemnity’ health insurance plans, which could be individual health insurance, should form the core of one’s health insurance portfolio. Top it up with a critical illness plan, a defined-benefit plan; one may add Hospital Daily Cash plan to meet incidental costs during hospitalization.

Estimate How Much of Cover Is Needed

The other tip in choosing the best health insurance plans is its coverage. Although there is no fixed rule about how much health insurance you should have, the coverage should typically depend on one’s residential city or history of family illnesses. 

Check Sub-Limit in the Health Insurance Plan

Presently, most health insurance plans have sub-limits.

Currently, most health insurance plans have sub-limits in them. Sub-limit entails capping the reimbursement limit under each or some of such cost-heads. For instance, the room-rent may be capped at 1 percent of the sum insured. 

So, regardless of the total sum insured in the policy, one may have to pay out-of-pocket hospital bills unless one sticks to the limit. Some health plans do not have any such sub-limits, while a few others offer a choice to add sub-limits when purchasing the policy.

Check for Co-Payment Feature

It is not necessary that there will be a co-payment feature in all health insurance plans, but it could be a mandatory feature in a senior citizen’s health insurance plan. As the premium rates are higher in higher age groups, a co-payment may provide some relief in terms of cost-effectiveness, as it helps to keep the premium low. Nevertheless, some plans ask for as much as 20 percent co-payment if the treatment is done at a non-network provider or in a city different from where the plan was bought.

What You Should do When Choosing Health Insurance Plans

While picking a health cover, one should ideally start by comparing plans from 2-3 preferred insurers. Have a close look at the inclusions and exclusions in the most basic plan being provided by them. Don’t base your decision solely on the premium, instead prefer simple plans with fewer conditions and restrictions. And note, every member of the family, irrespective of the age, requires a health insurance cover to tide over unforeseen medical needs anytime in the future.

Resources and References:

• Critical Illness Insurance 
• Tips of Selecting the Best Insurance