Skip to main content

What is a Comprehensive Health Cover ?

Invest In Tax Saving Mutual Funds Online

Call 0 94 8300 8300 (India)

 



The last few years have seen a surge in various types of health insurance products being launched by various insurance companies.

More and more people today are increasingly getting health conscious and many, in fact, are also buying various health insurance products to cover their families from unexpected hospitalisation.

With nearly 15– 20 insurance companies offering several variants of health insurance products, finalising the right product which suits your requirement can be quite a task. Should you go for a plain vanilla health insurance or also include add on covers? Should you go for an individual plan or a family floater? The following product categorisation enumerates the pros and cons and should help in enabling you to take the right decision.

Health insurance products can be categorised as:

Hospitalisation benefit policy :

This is the standard health insurance policy which covers hospitalisation expenses when the insured is admitted to the hospital for at least 24 hours for illness or injury. Several such policies also cover day care surgeries which are medical procedures for which 24 hour hospitalisation is not required. It also covers medical expenses incurred 30 days before hospitalisation and 60 days post discharge.

The cover commences only after the first 30 days during which only accidental related hospitalisation is covered. There are other waiting periods of up to two years for specific illnesses while pre- existing illnesses are excluded for first three four years.

One can either cover the entire family comprising self, spouse and kids under a single cover which is known as family floater or can cover them individually so each member has a separate cover ( sum assured). This type of policy should form the first level of health coverage for every family as it is the only comprehensive health policy in the entire product basket. Such policies offer covers ranging from ₹ 1 lakh to 50 lakh.

Top up policy :

This policy is designed to enhance your existing health cover provided by the hospitalisation reimbursement policy mentioned above. They cover hospitalisation costs which exceed a minimum voluntary threshold.

For example, if you already have a ₹ 5 lakh hospitalisation reimbursement policy and want to increase your cover to, may be, ₹ 10 lakh, they you can buy a top up health policy of ₹ 10 lakh. This will not pay you for claims up to ₹ 5 lakh as you can very well claim that amount from your existing insurer. It will only pay you the amount exceeding ₹ 5 lakh. These policies pay claim only when any single claim exceeds the limits set by the policy. Presently, such policies offer cover up to ₹ 15 lakh.

Critical illness policies :

These policies cover only specific critical illnesses such as cancer, heart attack, kidney transplant, and so on. They do not provide any type of reimbursement towards hospitalisation expenses incurred on other ailments. This policy provides a lump sum payment, which is typically the sum assured of your policy. For example, if a policy holder having a ₹ 5 lakh critical illness policy, is diagnosed for kidney failure and the actual expenses towards the hospitalisation and transplant cost ₹ 6 lakh, he will only receive the sum assured, which is ₹ 5 lakh.

This is a one- time payment given to the policy holder if he/ she suffers from any of the critical illnesses mentioned in the policy and also survives for 30 days from the date of diagnosis. In most cases the policy ceases to exist once the critical illness claim is paid. The number of critical illnesses covered vary from company to company and can range from a minimum of eight to 30 illnesses.

A variant to these policies are "Surgical benefit" policies, which cover specific list of surgeries and they, too, pay a lump sum benefit which can be a percentage of the sum assured depending on the surgery. Considering the increasing healthcare costs and for families with a history of critical illnesses, it is advisable to take this type of policy in addition to your basic hospitalisation policy. Both life and general insurance companies offer critical illness covers.

Hospital Cash Policy :

As the name suggests these policies provide daily cash which can range from a minimum of ₹ 500 for each day of hospitalisation.

They do not cover any medical expenses and are designed to cover any incidental costs incurred due to hospitalisation such as transportation, food, and so on which are not covered by reimbursement policies.

The daily cash benefits are paid for maximum up to 30- 60 days of hospitalisation. The premium depends on the daily cash benefit limits that are selected. Instead of these policies, it is advisable to enhance your existing comprehensive hospitalisation benefit policies.

Unit linked health policies :

These type of policies are offered by select life insurance companies and are designed to cater to the dual requirement of covering hospitalisation expenses and creation of a health fund to meet any additional expenses which may not be covered by regular insurance policies. A part of the premium is used for providing hospitalisation cover while rest is invested in funds of your choice for the creation of a "Health fund" from where you can withdraw to meet any additional hospitalisation expenditure after three years of commencement of the policy. Withdrawals are permitted only for the purpose of meeting the additional expenses towards hospitalisation.

While the concept of health fund is good, the overall charges can be a dampener. It is advisable to take a separate comprehensive hospitalisation policy and invest the money separately for the creation of a health fund.

While evaluating health cover products, one should focus on comprehensive cover and depending on your requirement and affordability one should choose the health product wisely.

Happy Investing!!

We can help. Call 0 94 8300 8300 (India)

Leave your comment with mail ID and we will answer them

OR

You can write back to us at PrajnaCapital [at] Gmail [dot] Com

---------------------------------------------

Invest in Tax Saving Mutual Funds ( ELSS Mutual Funds ) to upto Rs 1 lakh and Save tax under Section 80C.

Invest Tax Saving Mutual Funds Online

Tax Saving Mutual Funds Online

These links can be used to Purchase Mutual Funds Online that are regular also (Investment, non-tax saving)

Download Tax Saving Mutual Fund Application Forms from all AMCs

Download Tax Saving Mutual Fund Applications

These Application Forms can be used for buying regular mutual funds also

Some of the best Tax Saving Mutual Funds available ( ELSS Mutual Funds )

  1. ICICI Prudential Tax Plan Invest Online
  2. HDFC TaxSaver Invest Online
  3. DSP BlackRock Tax Saver Fund Invest Online
  4. Reliance Tax Saver (ELSS) Fund Invest Online
  5. Birla Sun Life Tax Relief '96 Invest Online
  6. IDFC Tax Advantage (ELSS) Fund Invest Online
  7. SBI Magnum Tax Gain Scheme 1993 Invest Online
  8. Sundaram Tax Saver Invest Online
  9. Edelweiss ELSS Invest Online

------------------

Best Performing Mutual Funds

    1. Largecap Funds Invest Online
      1. DSP BlackRock Top 100 Fund
      2. ICICI Prudential Focused Blue Chip Fund
      3. Birla Sun Life Front Line Equity Fund
    2. Large and Midcap Funds Invest Online
      1. ICICI Prudential Dynamic Plan
      2. HDFC Top 200 Fund
      3. UTI Dividend Yield Fund
    1. Mid and SmallCap Funds Invest Online
      1. Reliance Equity Opportunities Fund
      2. DSP BlackRock Small & Midcap Fund
      3. Sundaram Select Midcap
      4. IDFC Premier Equity Fund
    1. Small and MicroCap Funds Invest Online
      1. DSP BlackRock MicroCap Fund
    1. Sector Funds Invest Online
      1. Reliance Banking Fund
      2. Reliance Banking Fund
    1. Tax Saver MutualFunds Invest Online
      1. ICICI Prudential Tax Plan
      2. HDFC Taxsaver
      3. DSP BlackRock Tax Saver Fund
      4. Reliance Tax Saver (ELSS) Fund
    2. Gold Mutual Funds Invest Online
      1. Relaince Gold Savings Fund
      2. ICICI Prudential Regular Gold Savings Fund
      3. HDFC Gold Fund

Popular posts from this blog

Mutual Fund Review: Taurus Tax Shield

    Taurus Tax Shield has seen a turnaround in performance since 2007, but still remains a volatile offering… The fund has seen a turnaround in its performance since 2007 and has delivered impressively during market rallies since then. The portfolio is also more diversified. It contained its downfall to an average level in 2008 but is still one of the most volatile offerings in this category. Bold investors can look at this fund.   Strategy The fund manager invests across the market capitalisation and sectors. The selection of stocks is made on the basis of long-term business prospects and value creation. Fund Insight Launched in March 1996, the fund was a laggard with just two annual outperformances. Concentrated stock bets and high exposure to mid and small caps led to it being hit harder during market downturns. The number of stocks in the portfolio never exceeded 20 and it was not rare to see the top 5 holdings account for around 60 per cent of the portfolio. After b...
Read more

AXIS Long Term Equity Fund - The Best Tax Saver Fund for 2016

  AXIS Long Term Equity Fund - Invest Online   History:   The open ended mutual fund was launched on December 21 in the year 2009. It is benchmarked against BSE 200 and managed by the fund manager JINESH GOPANI. Initially the scheme was called as Axis tax saver fund but later it was renamed as Axis long term equity fund with effect from September 2, 2011. Nature of investment: As far as asset allocation is concerned, 97.52% of the stocks are equity and 0.02% is debt based. The primary focus of the fund is to invest in diversified equity stocks that have higher growth potential. Total asset size of the fund is in the tune of 4,996 CRORE as of June 30, 2015. Performance: The performance of the fund for one year, 3 years and 5 years are 23.6%, 29.9% and 19.1 respectively which are far greater than 6.4%, 14% and 5.6% benchmark figures. It has also preformed fairly well against SBI magnum Tax Gain (G) and HDFC tax saver (G). The growth comparison is enumerated below;                        ...
Read more

Health insurance guide - Part I

Insurance, by definition, is morbid. What if I die suddenly? What if my home caught fire? What if I had to undergo expensive medical treatment? What if something that I thought happened only to others befell me? Insurers, who work with large samples, calculate the probability of such an event and, hence, the possibility of them having to pay out a sum of money to mitigate, to the extent possible, the effects of that disaster. However, the possibility of you undergoing some kind of expensive medical treatment during your lifetime is far more likely than you dying suddenly or your house burning down. Given that costs at private healthcare facilities, where you are most likely to land up, is high, and, doubling every four years 10 months or so, the rest of your money life could easily go out of whack if you had to incur such expenses. Just 12 per cent of India's population is covered with some sort of health insurance. Pared to the bone, for a comparatively small price, health insu...
Read more

IDFC Classic Equity Fund

Invest In Tax Saving Mutual Funds Online Download Tax Saving Mutual Fund Application Forms Buy Gold Mutual Funds Call 0 94 8300 8300 (India)   IDFC Classic Equity Fund IDFC Classic Equity is a large-cap equity fund which currently has assets under management worth Rs. 158.52 crore. It was launched in August 2005. The fund is benchmarked against the BSE-200 Index. Performance YTD 1-Year 3-Year 5-Year Since Inception IDFC Classic Equity 0.93 26.61 6.30 1.01 11.65 BSE 200 1.52 17.31 6.00 1.99 12.98 All figures in % as on January 31, 2013; Returns above one-year in CAGR terms ...
Read more

10 year NSC launched, all set to give 8.7 per cent

Invest in Mutual Funds Online Download Mutual Fund Application Forms THE government introduced a 10-year National Savings Certificate ( NSC ), which will earn an interest rate of 8.7 per cent per annum. The notification for the launch of the new savings instrument, 10-year National Savings Certificate (IX-Issue), 2011, has been issued, an official statement said. The scheme will come into effect from December 1, it added. Investments in NSC will earn interest at the rate of 8.7 per cent compounded semi-annually, it said, adding that on an investment of Rs 100, the depositor will get Rs 234.35 on maturity of the NSC. There is no upper limit for investment in the certificate, it added. The new scheme will give better returns along with tax benefit to savers. At present, the maturity period of NSC is six years and it qualifies for tax relief for investment up to Rs 1,00,000 under Section 80C. The decision to raise the maturity period of NSC has been taken on the b...
Read more
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Invest in Tax Saving Mutual Funds Download Any Applications
Transact Mutual Funds Online Invest Online
Buy Gold Mutual Funds Invest Now