Important facts on health insurance for senior citizens in India

Insurance

oi-Ambari

By Ambari Datta Gupta

Published: Thursday, July 24, 2014, 12:19 [IST]

Health insurance plans have become necessary and important investment avenue, especially due to the spread of lifestyle related disease. However, our parents never considered having a health insurance cover as the idea was not prevalent during that time.

If your parents are senior citizens then you can still buy a health insurance plan for them. There are few companies that offer health insurance plans for senior citizens, including the likes of United Health, Apollo and Bajaj Allianz.

1) Medical tests

To buy health insurance it is mandatory to undergo medical tests specified by the health insurance providing company. The company refunds the costs of medical tests after issuing the insurance to the policy holder. So, you have to pay for the medical tests initially before you buy the cover for your parents.

2) Co-payment on hospitalisation

Some of the insurance companies have a 'co-payment on hospitalisation'. This means, on hospitalisation the policy holder has to pay some amount of the total claim. For example, if the total claim for treatment in a hospital amounts to Rs.1 lakh then the policy holder has to pay 20 - 30 percent of that amount.

The remaining amount will be settled by the insurance company. This percentage of the claim amount paid by the policy holder varies and therefore you must know the percentage of co-payment on hospitalisation before buying any health cover for your parents.

3) Individual plan and not family floater plan

You have to buy individual policies for your parent as health insurance policies for senior citizens is not available as family floater plan. The insurance companies, in order to avoid the risk of higher claims as well as higher charges do not offer health coverage policies for senior citizens as family floater plan.

4) Know the TPA

You must research well to know the Third Party Administrator (TPA) before buying the policy. It is important as TPA are responsible for all the settlements of the claims of policy holder.

Click here to know senior health insurance plans are effective

5) Cashless benefit

To avail cashless claim benefit, you must know the list of hospitals and insurance coverage from your TPA. It's best, if you select the hospitals which is nearest to your house to avoid any harassment in future.

Conclusion

After buying policies for your parents you must note the date within which you have to pay premium every year. Its best if you avoid claiming insurance cover for smaller amounts and keep it aside for future to claim when the hospitaliastion bill becomes mammoth.

GoodReturns.in