At younger age, the premiums are low and if one is already covered under the group plan or a corporate cover may enhance their coverage by adding a top-up plan to their existing plan

How many times have we heard in recent times, especially during the Covid period that due to the sudden illness, one of our known people, relatives, friends, colleagues have fallen bad financially due to the incurred medical expenses. In many cases, they had health insurance, but it turned out to be insufficient due to the prolonged illness. And if one were to consider the recent statistics, higher incidence of critical illnesses like heart related diseases or cancer, are having a devastating impact on their family finances.

It seems now-a-days, no amount of health insurance cover serves the ever-rising treatment and hospital costs. And on top of it, as the life expectancies get better, the longevity of the populace also is increasing, making the requirement of the proper health insurance coverage for even longer tenure for everyone. But with age, the premiums for health insurance shoot up and this is starkly evident when we look at the post-pandemic rates.

Here are a few tips which could help plan better coverage at reduced prices for those opting for cover.

Of course, though the premium shouldn’t define or decide the choice of health insurance, it turns out to be an important factor to be considered. First one should look at the ideal cover of that’s needed. Though, there’s no benchmark to consider, one may look from the current age, stage of life, the lifestyle, present health condition, family history and where one is domiciled or preferred treatment location. The last bit turn critical as the costs of facilities are higher in a metro or city relative to other locations. However, this is offset by the newer plan options which come with no strings attached on where the treatment is availed, even including a foreign location. Though, these relaxed features come at a cost.

Similarly, the present health condition determines whether an insurance company accepts the risk, if so at a standard or rate-up (higher) premium. There again, there’re plans which come with options to cover the pre-existing illnesses, at a price. The stage of life i.e., for a newly married couple may opt for pregnancy related cover which comes at a higher price to the standard plan and in some plans, are covered with a waiting period which could be comparatively cheaper. These considerations must be imbibed while deciding.

Though lifestyle conditions mayn’t always directly impact in the premium unless it has already led to disorders in health, the insured may keep this in mind that such prolonged situations could turn detrimental and hence make provisions through better coverage. An enhanced cover could be obtained by opting for special coverage of critical conditions. Some of these mayn’t be covered in the standard plan and hence a pick-and-choose customization would help.

And when at younger age, the premiums are low and if one is already covered under the group plan or a corporate cover may enhance their coverage by adding a top-up plan to their existing plan. The top-up plan as the name suggests is an add-on cover to the base (corporate) plan and would only kick off as the base plan is exhausted. The premium for such plans is much cheaper than the base plans. This helps to have a decent cover beyond the normal health conditions. Some insurers allow the top-up to convert into a base plan at a later date, which could turn economical till the need arises.

For those who’re sensitive to the premium could also consider deductible though not an advisable for everyone. In this, there would be a threshold till which the cover won’t commence i.e., if a deductible of Rs25,000 is opted for a Rs 5 lakh plan, the insured must bear the initial Rs25,000 of claim and beyond which the cover commences. The premium is relatively cheaper than those of the standard base plans. Then there’re plans which won’t impact the no-claim bonus (NCB) which facilitates for a discount in the renewal irrespective of the claim in any given year. Of course, this comes at a higher cost.

The other way is to make a payment for two or three years at once which provide a discount of up to 10 per cent in the overall premium. Moreover, the premium is calculated on today’s cost i.e., builds-in the current age which could further add to the savings to the insured. A bespoke combination of these features allows to gain higher cover at a lower price to the insured.

(The author is a co-founder of “Wealocity”, a wealth management firm and could be reached at knk@wealocity.