Benefits of buying a Health Insurance Policy

Health care is a major concern for everyone and with current lifestyle of late night shift, workload, increasing pollution, competition and bad food habit, health issues are arising in all age groups, not only in old aged people. And with the current rate of inflation in the health care sector of India, which is almost close 20%, availing health care facilities are becoming very difficult and costly.  A normal surgery of Rs.5 Lakh today will cost you Rs.12,44,160 after 5 years at 20% inflation rate.

With such conditions of health issues and rise in price of health care sector, going for a health insurance policy is the best decision you can make towards your happy and healthy life. In countries like USA, health insurance has become compulsory for every citizen otherwise they have to pay a tax penalty. You can understand the importance of Health insurance from this rule in the USA.

Health insurance is an insurance against the medical cost incurred by the insured person. The money incurred is paid directly or reimbursed by the insurer. Low premium is offered in health insurance policy for young people and the premium depends upon your current medical condition and hospital services you choose. It is very much important for both health and wealth.

Following are some of the benefits of buying a health insurance policy:-

Deal with Inflation

Inflation can be witnessed in all the sectors which is a major concern for people. Inflation in health care sector has left other sectors way behind which is making the cost of medication and hospitalization to increase at a very high pace. The increasing technology and up gradation in treatment tools are adding up to the bills of the patient. To tackle with such a high rate of inflation, especially in the health care sector, health insurance is the right tool. Based on the current rate of inflation, you can estimate the cost of health care required after some years and then decide the amount of health insurance policy accordingly.

Peace of Mind

According to the WHO report, the major reasons for death in India are heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases and stroke. Increasing cases of dengue, chikungunya and people becoming more prone to dangerous diseases needs serious concern. Due to the rising health issue in all age groups, people are always worried about the bad conditions through which they have to go or their loved one have to go, if found with any need of hospitalization and medication. Health Insurance policy allows you to be free from the worry of doctor, payment and good facilities at the hospital.

Let us take an example of Naveen (29 years), who is married to Sujata (26 years) and they have son Deepak (2 years). Naveen is always worried about his family as he is the only earning member of the family. He doesn’t want his family to suffer if anything unfortunate incident happens to him, which could land him in hospital. His income will be blocked, the lengthy bills of the hospital and check-ups will be beyond his savings, and all these nightmares haunt Naveen every time. He doesn’t want his wife with a kid of only 2 years to suffer because of his medical condition. So Naveen decided to go for a Health insurance policy to protect his family against any medical emergency and now he doesn’t need to worry about the health care issue for him and his family.

Cashless Treatment

Arrangement of huge amount of cash at the time of emergency becomes a headache for people and this can be easily done if you have a health insurance policy. Health Insurance policy allows you to go for cashless treatment in network hospital, which is a great relief for people struck with an emergency condition and also for people who can’t afford costly medical treatment.

Pre and Post Hospitalization cost

Emergency situations are not the only cases in which Health insurance policy helps you. It covers your pre and post hospitalization cost. Pre hospitalization cost includes the charges related to checkups like blood test, X-ray which are done before hospitalization and Post hospitalization cost includes costs incurred after hospitalization. In both the cases, the insurer can claim for both types of cost incurred at the hospital. Number of days in pre and post hospitalization cost is different for different companies.

Tax Deduction

Health insurance policy also provides a tax benefit under Income tax act 1961. In which policyholder can avail tax benefit under section 80D. The amount of the deduction increases if the person insured is a senior citizen.

It doesn’t matter how young or healthy you are, Health insurance is compulsion for all those people who want to live a healthy and secured life without incurring huge amount in medical expenses. Think about your medical expense in future, medical condition, health requirements and then choose the best health insurance policy so that you get the maximum benefit out of it