Senior Mediclaim

Do you always wonder why most of the best things in life come at high cost .I sometimes wish how would it be if you ate cheese and you would be thin or if you have sweets and your sugar levels will decrease.

Similarly wouldn't it be best if the medical insurance premiums will be cheap when you need them the most? Yes we are talking about old age, as the age increases so does the need of the medical cover and the premiums increase.

More than any other age group, senior citizens require health cover the most. However, given the number of senior citizens being hospitalised, insurers have hiked rates to a large percentage of the sum insured.

For instance, if a 25-year-old individual pays 1.5% of the sum assured as a premium, then the same number can be as high as 8% of the sum assured for a 60-year-old individual. “An insurer prices a policy based on two risk factors.

One; for how long an individual is required to stay in the hospital and two, what the individual stands to lose because of the sickness. These risk factors are high and are common among the senior citizens

However, the fact remains that despite high prices, senior citizens need insurance as medical treatment can actually wipe out their savings. Today, there are a number of public as well as private sector players offering mediclaim for senior citizens.

Some policies come with sub-limits. Common sub-limits imposed by insurers are room rents, doctors’ fees and diagnostics. These policies typically cap the room and boarding cost at 1% of sum insured a day and at 2% a day for those in an intensive care unit.

The overall limit is capped at 25% of the sum insured for an illness or injury. So, when you sign up for a policy, check if the insurer has assigned a maximum amount for a specific expense.

Also consider that, in order to check malpractices and offer uniformity in the text of health insurance policies, General Insurance Council (GIC), a statutory body of all non-life insurers, has come out with a uniform definition on pre-existing diseases. Also, all policies issued from 1 June will cover pre-existing disease from the fifth year of the policy.

What this means is that for a fresh policy, no pre-existing disease will be covered for four years. After these four years of continuous coverage and no claims on account of the ailment in question, the pre-existing disease will be included under the cover.

The best part here is that this applies to all health insurance companies.

These are basic guidelines and areas to address, do take help of a financial planner to decide the right product and premium for you.

Inspiration & Source : Mrs.Revathi Sreedharan & ET