Health Insurance : Myths and Facts

Health Insurance: Myths & Facts

All of us know very well about the importance of health insurance. Today, everyone realize the benefit and need of having health insurance. For sales points of view it is very easy product which can be offer to the clients by the non life insurer. I have also written many blogs about it. Yesterday, I came across very useful information in the news paper which I want to share with all of you. A very well known insurer called ICICI Lombard has conducted the survey about health insurance. According to this survey that people have many misconceptions about health insurance which we will be discuss in today’s blog.

Myth1:

52% people believe that health insurance policies settle the claim only in case of hospitalization.

Reality:

9 out of 22 non life insurance companies offer OPD benefits, including dental treatment, diagnostic test expenses, vaccinations, hearing aid, eye check up, spectacles and preventive health care services.

Myth2:

27% people said I don’t need health insurance if I am fit.

Reality:

Many illnesses like dengue, malaria, food poising and critical illness can happen in healthy people due to hectic life style and pollution. Health insurance also covers injuries due to accident or violence.

Myth3:

29% people said that they have group health cover. So they don’t need a separate health insurance policy.

Reality:

Due to increasing medical cost day by day, group cover may not be enough in case of medical treatment. In case of job loss, you will need the cover. The group health insurance policies have some defined limits and constraint.

Myth4:

49% people was not sure in survey whether they can get health cover or not as they smoke or consume alcohol.

Reality:

Insurance companies offer health insurance to these types of people. In these cases loading increase the premium can be higher due to high risky habits.

Myth5:

26% people do not intend to cover their family as they think that only earning member need the health insurance cover.

Reality:

Unlike life insurance, health insurance should cover the entire family including children and parents of the customer.

Myth6:

Pre- existing diseases will be covered after waiting period so no need to declare in the proposal form.

Reality:

As per IRDA guidelines, any ailment not declared by a customer is considered an un-disclosed pre existing disease and it leads to claim rejection.

If you want more information regarding investment or you need investment services, feel free to ask us. We also conduct the seminar on investment and financial planning. If you are interested for seminar in your city just drop the mail.

Warm regards,

Arvind Trivedi

Certified Financial Planner

arvind.trivedi79@gmail.com

www.artofinvest.com

Insurance Planning: Part 3

Insurance Planning: Part 3

In last two parts of insurance planning we have discussed about life insurance. Today we will discuss about non life insurance. In our country, health insurance falls in non life insurance category.

Medical treatment is getting very costlier in these days. Hospitalization of any family member make a big hole in your pocket and your financial balance become in bad shape. None knows when it comes. It may be happen anytime without informing you and you will never know it prior. Health insurance is very critical and essential part of any individuals. No one should ignore it. In our country it is getting popular and demands are growing from last couple of year.

These policies not only cover hospitalization but also the expenses incurred before the admitting in hospital. There are many private companies like Max Bupa, Apolo Munich, ICICI Lombard, Religare Healthcare provide excellent coverage and services. Some of these companies provide free health check up if you do not get admitted in hospital during the policy cover period.

In tax saving point of view, one can claim deduction under section 80D for paying premium up to Rs 15,000 for self, spouse and dependent children. For senior citizens the claim deduction limit available up to Rs 20,000.

In addition to above mentioned limit, one can claim additional claim tax deduction of Rs 20,000 if one pay premium for parents if parents are senior citizen and if not senior citizen then additional limit is up to Rs 15,000. Therefore, one can claim maximum tax deduction up to RS 40,000 under section 80D.

It is very vast subject so please check all inclusion and exclusion of deceases and check the hospital list under TPA.

If you want more information regarding investment or you have any other query about investment feel free to ask us.

Warm regards,

Arvind Trivedi

Certified Financial Planner

arvind.trivedi79@gmail.com

www.artofinvest.com

www.arvindtrivedicfp.blogspot.in

Health Insurance Policies

Have you read your health insurance policy carefully..?

As we already know that the health insurance policy is very essential thing for anyone regardless any income group or age group. It is mandatory part of any comprehensive financial planning. Many private and public sector companies provide these types of policies with many attractive benefit and limitation.

Many companies come with these types of policies with restriction like hospital daily room rent and many exclusions like pre existing decease. Now, it has become more important that we should read all the term and conditioned very carefully. At present, there is no free look in facility but IRDA has indicated that they can implement this norm on health insurance policies. As per current scenario, it is only implemented on life insurance policies only.

Please make sure whether lifetime renewability is available or not with the policy. Many medi-claim policy provider often refuse renew the policy after certain age. You can select a plan that offers lifelong renewal because buying insurance at older age becomes a difficult task in case any ailment. There are many decent policies available with lifelong renewal. Few of them as given below:

• Apollo Munich Easy Health Plan
• Apollo Munich Optima Senior
• Star Citizen Red Corpet
• ICICI LombardComplete Health Insurance – iHealth Plan
• Max Bupa Health Assurance
• Religare Mediclaim

You should check premium and benefit and select the plan according to your need.

For more detail about any other query related investment, you can contact me through my email.

Warm regards,

Arvind Trivedi

Certified Financial Planner

arvind.trivedi79@gmail.com

Max Bupa Health Assurance: Perfect Product for Senior Citizens

Very often we came across complain from senior citizens that there are not a single mediclaim product in market which renew their mediclaim policy throughout life time. Case-to-case renewal after 70 years is done at complete discretion of the insurer. They have often denied from a personal accident and critical illness policy when they really needed. Today I have read an article in Moneylife email and they have written about the product with an option of lifelong renewal. It is good product and I want to share it with all of you.

Max Bupa Health Assurance is a product with lifelong renewal, a demand that addresses the core need of senior citizens who were refused renewal of personal accident (PA) policy after age of 70, ostensibly due to increased possibility of accidents at an older age.
 

Critical illness is another product which excludes customers as early as 50 years; some policies run till age 60 years. Again, critical illness like first heart attack, stroke, paralysis, cancer is likely to strike more after age 60 years—the time when the product is unavailable for customers to cover their risk. Max Bupa Critical Illness cover is a reasonably priced product covering wide range of illnesses with lifelong renewal benefit.

Max Bupa Health Assurance offers a combination of three health covers—PA, Critical Illness and Hospital Cash, with an option to choose all or any of the three covers. The product can be bought between 18-65 years; PA and Hospital Cash are offered to children from age 2-21 years.  The premium for PA cover is same for ages 18-65 years. According to Sevantika Bhandari, Director-Marketing, “For customers above 65 years of age, the premium for PA cover will vary. We are offering PA, Critical Illness and Hospital Cash under Health Assurance with life-long renewal. In fact, we were the first in the industry to introduce the option of life-long renewal with the launch of our flagship product Heartbeat (Mediclaim) in 2010.”
 

Here are also the pros and cons:

Advantages – 
 • Reasonable premium at Rs780 for Rs5 lakh cover for ages 18-65 years. You can get PA policy in the range of Rs500 to Rs800 for same cover, but the Max Bupa product also covers child education benefit of 5% of the Sum Insured (SI) or Rs50,000 per child, whichever is lower and funeral expenses of Rs5,000 in case of accidental death
 

• Maximum entry age is 65 years. Life-long renewal is a welcome step, but it does come at a little price. 

Disadvantages – 
 • The product only covers accidental death, permanent total disability (PTD) and permanent partial disability (PPD). Temporary total disability (TTD) is a good optional feature available in many PA Product, but is missing in the Max Bupa offering. TTD usually pays 1% of the SI for 100 weeks in case of disability preventing one from going to work.
 

• The list specified for PPD is not comprehensive. It does not cover for loss of fingers, smell, taste, and so on. A general statement like “any other permanent partial disability—percentage as assessed by the doctor”, which is present in many PA products would have helped. 

Critical Illness is a good product considering the following pros and cons:
 

Advantages – 

 • Lifelong renewal
 • 20 critical illnesses like cancer, first heart attack, stroke, paralysis, major burns, coma,        kidney failure, open chest coronary artery bypass surgery, etc are covered
 • Floater option is available for two adults
 • Very reasonable premium at Rs752, Rs2436, Rs13465 for Rs3 lakh cover (age 27, 42 and 65 respectively)
 • Pre-existing coverage offered after four years of continuous coverage. Most critical illness products do not cover pre-existing diseases
 

Disadvantages – 
 • 90 days of waiting period and 30 days of survival period for the policy to pay. Some critical illness products in the market cover with zero survival period

Regards,

Arvind Trivedi

Certified Financial Planner

arvind.trivedi79@gmail.com