Why the cover has to be adequate
The purpose of health insurance is not to save tax or to earn a return. It is to make sure that a single hospital admission does not force you to break a long-term investment, borrow, or ask family for help.
The most common failure we see is not the absence of cover but the inadequacy of it — a policy bought years ago at a sum insured that was reasonable then and is well short of what a week in a metro hospital costs today.
The main types
- Individual policy — a separate sum insured for each person covered.
- Family floater — a single sum insured shared across the family, usually cheaper per head, though a serious claim by one member reduces what remains for the others.
- Top-up and super top-up — cover that begins above a chosen threshold, an economical way to raise total protection substantially.
- Critical illness — a lump sum on diagnosis of a listed condition, paid regardless of actual hospital expenses.
- Personal accident — cover for accidental death and disability, which a standard health policy does not provide.
What to check before buying
- Room-rent limits — a capped room category can proportionately reduce the entire claim, not just the room charge.
- Waiting periods — for pre-existing conditions and for specific listed ailments.
- Co-payment — the share of every claim you bear yourself, common in senior-citizen policies.
- Sub-limits on specific procedures, and exclusions on consumables.
- Network hospitals near where you actually live, and the insurer's record on settling claims.
- Portability — you may move to another insurer at renewal without losing the waiting-period credit you have built up.
On employer cover
Group cover from an employer is valuable, but it belongs to the employer, not to you. It ends when the job does, typically at the point in life when buying fresh cover is hardest and dearest. A personal policy held alongside it, started young, is what carries you through.
Please note
Insurance is the subject matter of solicitation. Please read the policy wording, the prospectus and the exclusions carefully before concluding a sale.