Things To Consider While Renewing Health Insurance Policy

Health insurance plans are effective protection against rising cases of diseases and medical inflation. However, it is always important to review a health policy while renewing it to ensure that it provides you and your family optimum coverage, at all times.

Here are some valuable factors that you need to consider while renewing a health insurance policy.

Family size: If you recently had an addition to your family then it will be best to increase the size of the health cover. The added cover would ensure that you do not fall short of financial help in case there are one or more medical emergencies in your family. It is important to note that any additional expense over and above the sum assured would have to be paid by the policyholder.

Shift in the city of residence: In case you are moving from a Tier 2 city to a metro city, it is obvious that the cost of any medical procedure would also increase. In such a case you need to increase the sum insured if you have recently shifted base from a small town or city to a bigger one.

Critical illness covers: Critical illnesses are life-threatening diseases like cancer, heart attack, or kidney failure. The treatment for critical illnesses is usually very expensive. A critical illness cover leads to a lumpsum payment by the insurer to the policyholder on the diagnosis of a critical illness cover. It is important you opt for critical illness cover while renewing your health policy if you have not opted for it already. The addition of critical illness cover would, however, lead to an increase in premium cost.

Claim settlement ratio: Just buying health insurance may not be enough if the company fails to settle the claim in time. The claim settlement ratio is a ratio of the total claims settled by the insurer out of all the claims it received. You need to check at least the last five years' claim settlement ratio of your company before making any decision.

Cashless network: You must review the list of network hospitals for your insurer. A large network of hospitals offering cashless treatment under a health insurance policy proves to be highly helpful during medical emergencies which lead to expensive treatment.