Best Health Insurance Plans To Buy In 2022
Best Health Insurance Plans To Buy In 2022
Medical costs are rising every day. By buying health insurance, you can insure yourself from the rising costs of medical treatments. Many health insurance companies in India offer different types of health plans.
You can choose from different health insurance plans to select the best plan for you. Health insurance is used to cover hospitalisation, pre-surgery expenses and post-surgery expenses. You can claim medical expenses until the insured limit is reached.
Eligibility for getting health insurance
Your ability to get health insurance is based on age and medical history. By paying a little extra premium, you can secure the medical future of your family. If you suffer from a pre-existing illness, you can claim insurance benefits only after 4 years have passed.
Health Insurance Types
The different types of health insurance types are:
- Individual Health Insurance: This is suitable for individuals to secure their medical future. This covers all expenses for medical and healthcare treatments.
- Family Health Insurance: You can secure your entire family under a single health insurance plan. You have to pay single premiums. Your wife, children and parents can be covered under this plan. The greater the age of members under this plan, the higher the premium payment. This is because the greater the age, the greater the risk of illnesses.
- Critical Illness Insurance: This health insurance protects in case of a life-threatening illness. The doctor only has to diagnose the illness. You can receive the lump sum payment immediately. Illnesses covered include cancer, major organ transplant, aortic surgery, kidney failure, stroke, and first heart attack.
- Senior Citizen Health Insurance: If you are above 65 years of age, you can avail of this type of health insurance coverage. Some companies also have an upper age limit of 75 years for this plan. The plan covers medicines, hospitalisation, and post-surgery expenses. Mental illnesses are also covered. You may have to undergo a medical check-up before this plan is issued. You pay a higher insurance premium under this type of plan. This is because the health risks increase with an increase in age.
- Top-up Health Insurance: You can opt for this plan if you want a higher amount of insurance coverage. You can claim under this policy only when the payment under the regular insurance is completed.
- Hospital Daily Cash: You or a family member may be hospitalised. The costs of medical treatment may increase based on the medical condition. You can receive between Rs 500 and Rs 10,000 for meeting these unplanned expenses. You may even be hospitalised for more than 7 days. In this case, you can get paid to cover the recovery period.
- Personal Accident Insurance: This plan covers you if you are injured in an accident. It also secures you against disabilities and their treatment. You get a lump sum payment under this plan.
- Mediclaim: You can get benefits under this plan in case of an unexpected illness or accident. Mediclaim provides you compensation during an illness or accident. This plan covers most in-patient expenses in the hospital.
- Group Health Insurance Policy: Your employer generally takes this policy for all employees in the organisation. The insurance premiums under this plan are low as many people are covered.
Best health insurance plans:
There are over 28 health insurance companies in India. To select the best insurance policy, you have to look at the following metrics:
- The amount of annual insurance premium payable
- Claims settlement ratio
- Number of network hospitals
- Customer experience
- All-inclusive health insurance policies
We summarise some of the key features of the best insurance plans:
| Name of Plan | Sum Insured | Network hospitals | Benefits |
| Aditya Birla Activ health + Multi-fit Combo | Rs 2 lakh to Rs 2 crore | 10,000+ | Different sum insured optionsReward points for gaining fitnessNo age limit |
| ICICI Lombard- Complete Health Insurance Policy | Rs 1 lakh to Rs 50 lakh | 6,500+ | Covers pre-existing diseases from two years of the policy start dateCovers post-recovery costsNo pre-medical check-upTwo complimentary health check-ups per year. |
| Star Health’s Senior Citizen Red Carpet health policy | Rs 1 lakh to Rs 25 lakh | 12,000+ | No pre-insurance medical testAge limit is between 60 and 75 yearsPre-existing illnesses cover from the second yearCover for cataract surgery |
| HDFC ERGO My: Health Women Suraksha | Rs 3 lakh to Rs 24 lakh | 13,000+ | Covers all types of cancer affecting womenCovers 40 types of ailmentsCovers loss of life, pregnancy coverSalary up to 50% of the monthly salary for six months |
| Care Youth Health Insurance Plan | Rs 3 lakh to Rs 25 lakh | 19,000+ | 10% discount if you renew, 5% discount for online policiesCovers doctor’s consultations and ophthalmic treatmentsMaternity and new-born children are coveredAnnual health check-up |
| Niva Bupa Health Pulse Policy | Rs 3 lakh to Rs 25 lakh | 8,660+ | Cashless coverage for hospitalisationsCover for paying ambulance expensesAddition of 100% sum insured in a claim-free yearCovers mental illnesses and HIV treatmentsCoverage for day-care treatmentsHospital cash up to Rs 2, 000 per day |
| Reliance Health Gain Policy | Up to Rs 3 crore | 8,600+ | Three different types of plans, including Power, Prime, and Plus types of plans You can receive between 33.33%– 100% of the sum insured in a claim-free year15% discount if you are 50+ with no pre-existing health condition7%–12% discount for a 2 or 3-year health insurance plan |
Key takeaways: As life is uncertain, opting for a health insurance plan is better. We can protect ourselves from high hospitalization costs. This smart financial decision can protect you from unexpected financial costs. If you need help with finances, you can always take the help of experts such as Piramal Finance to guide you through your personal finance woes.