Factors to consider before buying a Health Insurance Plan for your Parents/ Senior Citizens

Before buying an insurance policy for your parents check the following:
• COVER: Check which company or medical insurance plan gives the most coverage for the premium they charge.
• AGE LIMIT: Also check if it provides cover for people more than age of 60 and the maximum age up to which a guaranteed renewal is offered thereafter. Some insurance plans have no maximum entry age limit and allow entry even after 70. Select a medical insurance plan that can be renewed for a longer period. The age limit for renewal varies from one company to another and also differs from plan to plan and hence check the terms and conditions carefully before buying the policy.
• PRE EXISTING ILLNESS COVER: The health insurance should cover pre existing illness, subject to the terms and conditions of the Insurance policy. No health insurance of any senior citizen in India will provide cover for everything from the inception of the policy. Most health insurance policies exercise caution so as not to cover a wide range of illnesses. There will be clauses which exclude certain pre-existing conditions or ailments. All these factors have to be checked in the terms and conditions and also when the policy starts running to discover whether such illnesses can be covered. Go for the medical insurance policy that has the minimum waiting period. This way your conditions are covered sooner.
• CASHLESS HOSPITAL NETWORK : Getting medical care in network hospitals provided by health insurers affords one the benefit of being hospitalized with no money as well as managing the complete documentation paperwork. This is further to getting adequate and economical medical treatment. A customer should try to select an insurer or health insurance plan which offer maximum number of network hospitals in their locality.
• CAPPING/ LIMITS ON EXPENSES: A lot of health insurance plans put a limit to expenses you can claim for admission during hospitalization. These includes upper limits on room rent, doctor visits and other overhead charges. There are also certain plans that have no capping at all.
• SUB LIMITS : These are the limits set on the treatment of certain ailments. For example, you undergo a Cataract surgery and spend Rs. 1 lakh for it. And if your insurance policy has set a sub-limit of Rs.30,000/- on cataract surgery, then you can only avail that amount as claim and will have to bear the remaining cost on your own. Ensure you compare various plans and select the one that has lowest slabs or no sub-limits.
• CO-PAYMENT: Co-pay is a fixed percentage or amount which has to be borne/paid by the insured at the time of a claim. The co-pay may be optional or sometimes mandatory. This helps reduce the premium and fit in your budget. However, it is advisable to choose a co-pay option which has a balance between the amount you need to pay at the time of a claim and the discount you get on your premium, as you don’t want to pay most of your claim value amount and also neither do you want to pay a very high premium. For parents /senior citizens and people above a certain age, the co-pay is a high amount or a higher percentage as compared to a normal medical policy and it is mandatory.
• COVERAGE OF SPECIFIC DISEASES: People above 60 years of age, are at a higher risk of suffering from conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, heart ailments etc. Serious Health complications can arise from any of the above ailments. When an insurance policy is bought it is important to, make sure that most of the diseases or ailments in your list are covered.
• MEDICAL CHECK-UPS: Many of the companies insist on medical checkups whilst many just don’t. Medical check-ups are carried out to figure out if there exists any pre-existing illness. If there are more pre-existing sicknesses than the maximum threshold, your insurer can deny you a policy. It is advisable to choose an Insurance company that does not insist on medical check-ups.
• No Claim Bonus (NCB): Check for No claim bonus discount option, which is a discount for every claim free year. Some companies do not offer NCB. Prefer the plan which offers NCB, as that may help you cut down your premium