TECHNICAL TERMS YOU WILL COME ACROSS WHILE BUYING HEALTH INSURANCE


TECHNICAL TERMS YOU WILL COME ACROSS WHILE BUYING HEALTH INSURANCE

Every single day the bills charged by hospitals have been increasing which is directly proportional to the need for health insurance to cope with inflation. Still, the statistics state that more than 60% of the people in India do not have proper health insurance coverage. When researching the reason behind Indians being reluctant towards buying health insurance, one of the major reasons was inadequate knowledge about the terms and claim process of health insurance. It is a known fact that the health insurance segment has been complex and it is fine if you do not understand every term mentioned in your health insurance bond. Here are some of the common terms related to health insurance you must understand.

  1. Cashless Claims:

Your insurance provider will have tie-ups with various hospitals where you can get admitted or treated for any health complications without immediate hard cash. These hospitals are known as network hospitals, and the list of network hospitals will be available in the document/bond provided to you while purchasing the policy. The bills raised by these hospitals for your treatment will be paid directly by the insurer if you have been paying the premiums regularly. Availing of the treatment without cash and the bill being claimed by the insurer is known as cashless claims.

        2. Accumulation Period:

This is the period where you can avail of the health insurance benefits even after purchasing the policy. It is usually 30 days just after purchasing the health insurance plan, where you cannot raise for claims (except for accidents). The accumulation period is usually fixed by the insurance company. Please make a note of it so that you don’t have a bad experience of rejection of claims.

        3. Add-ons/Riders/Optional Covers:

Add-ons are the additional healthcare benefits you can avail of by paying a little higher health insurance price. Many people think that the basic health insurance plan or a comprehensive plan may go insufficient as they live in a situation highly prone to diseases. They must choose these add-ons to have sufficient coverage at the time of claims. Most commonly purchased add-ons are the maternity cover, room rent waiver, AYUSH treatment cover, critical illness cover, etc.

        4. AYUSH:

Some people have started moving to medical practices other than Allopathy. The bills to be paid for these medical practices are also growing simultaneously. Thus, to support them, AYUSH is an add-on cover under which one can get coverage for the treatment under various medical practices like Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy. One can opt for this add-on if one follows any of these practices.

       5. Deductibles:

The deductible is a fixed amount you will have to pay out of your pocket before the insurance company starts paying for you. For example, if your deductible is 20,000 INR, the insurance company is liable to pay for your hospitalization expenses only if your bill exceeds 20,000 INR. A deductible is a fixed amount and not a percentage of the total expenses or claim. If your bill is less than your deductible, the insurer is not liable to pay you for the expenses. One interesting fact about deductibles is that the higher your deductible, the lower will be your premium and vice versa.

Final words:

There are many more terms like coinsurance, cumulative bonus, copayment, claim settlement ratio you will hear or read in the process of buying health insurance. Make sure you understand each term exactly to know what your policy means to you, the inclusions, and exclusions of your policy. If you do not understand a particular term or any working of the health insurance, you can better ask your insurer or visit websites like coverfox who try to educate about the non-life insurance with a good support team.

Author Biography
Krishna Murthy is a Content writer and has contributed articles for Hubpages, Hackernoon, Thriveglobal, a well-renowned name amongst the B2B service providers. He has over 6 years of experience in market research, blog writing, and drafting case study reports.