What are the types of Health Insurance plan in India?

Posted by Bhargav Baweja on November 18th, 2019

A Health insurance plan is a medical insurance policy offering financial coverage in case of medical emergencies like surgeries, hospitalisation etc. In India, after motor insurance, health insurance is the most purchased policy. Health insurance plans either directly reimburse medical expenses or offer cashless facilities at network hospitals. Apart from that, a health insurance policy also offers tax benefits under section 80D of the Income Tax Act.

With the rise in demand for health insurance policies, there are many insurance plans available in the market. Not just that, there are insurance plans for different health issues as well. But with several plans available and with so many players in the market, it could get a little overwhelming selecting the perfect policy. That is why it is best to purchase a policy online.

Now since we’re on the topic. Let us read about some popular health insurance plans in India:

Family Health Insurance Plan – A family health insurance policy allows you to include all the members of the family under one single policy. Family health insurance policy is expensive than individual health policy as it covers more members under one single policy. In this policy, a fixed sum assured is allotted to each member, and the sum assured can be availed by either one or all members simultaneously.

Senior Citizen Health Insurance – As the name suggests, this policy is designed for people who belong to the age group of 60 and above. This insurance policy covers illness against diseases that occur due to old age. Moreover, the IRDAI has made it mandatory for every health insurance provider to cover people up to 65 years of age.

Critical Illness Policy – This plan is purchased to cover for critical illnesses like heart attack, kidney failure, cancer, paralysis attack etc. Since the treatment for such illnesses is very expensive, the reimbursement also remains high. Normally, the insurer provides the insured with a lump sum amount if he or she is diagnosed with any of the aforementioned diseases.

Maternity Insurance Policy – Maternity health insurance policy covers the pre and post-natal care of the mother, including the delivery of the baby in both normal and cesarean cases. At times the policy even provides vaccination for the new-born baby. This insurance plan covers the child till the validity of the policy.

Personal Accident Cover – These plans are mostly offered as riders. This includes hospitalisation in case of an accident. In this policy, fixed benefits are listed wherein a fixed amount is paid if the insured meets with an accident, resulting in death or disability. This payout and the sum assured have no relation.

There are several advantages of a health insurance policy too, they are:

• Cashless treatment in partner hospitals. 
• Pre and post-hospitalization coverage.
• Ambulance fee in case of emergency.
• No claim bonus if no claims are made during a policy year. 
• Medical policies also offer regular health checkups, etc.

A medical insurance policy helps a lot when we meet with an unexpected illness. Life is unpredictable, and anything can happen to us at any point, for those purposes always keep a medical insurance policy handy.