10 Best Health Insurance Plans and Benefits

As per reports, only a very small percentage out of India’s huge population has taken health insurance. In the current scenario, where the COVID-19 virus is mutating regularly and the nation is witnessing multiple waves of the spread, protecting oneself against any infection in the future becomes very important.

With increasing hospitalizations and rise in medical costs, it has become a necessity to have the best health policy by your side that acts as a financial cushion and helps manage the finances during the time of crisis.

Types of Health Insurance

There are many different health insurance policies available in the market but each belongs to a few categories or types of health plans. They are,

• Individual Health Plans: Provides coverage for one person/ individual
• Family Floater Plans: Provides coverage for all the family members
• Group Health Insurance Plans: Provides coverage for employees working in a company
• Critical Health Insurance Plans: Provides coverage for critical illnesses like heart disease, cancer, kidney problems, etc.,
• Health Insurance for Senior Citizens: Provides coverage for senior citizens (aged 65 years or older)

Best Health Insurance in India

With many insurance companies in the country, people have difficulty finding the right provider for their healthcare needs as each plan offers a wide variety of features.

So answering a question like – which health insurance is best in India is difficult since every individual has different health needs. Some of the basic facilities expected by policyholders in a health plan are such as emergency treatment costs, OPD, pre-and post-hospitalization costs, home treatment options, claim settlement, etc.

Here is a list of the 10 Best Medical Insurance in India,

• Care Health Insurance Plan
• Digit Health Care Plus OPD Insurance Plan
• SBI Arogya Plus Plan
• ICICI Lombard Complete Health Insurance
• Manipal Cigna Lifetime Healthcare
• Aditya Birla Health Enhanced Plan
• Apollo Munich Maxima
• Bajaj Allianz Tax Gain Plan
• Max Bupa Heartbeat
• Bharti AXA Health Advantage

The primary purpose of a health policy in India is to provide its policy holders the ability to get comprehensive medical services at hospitals, without financial worries while paying an affordable premium. A health insurance policy does not just cover hospitalization or treatment costs. It helps in other aspects as well, which is the reason for us to explain the 10 lesser-known benefits of health insurance.

Benefits of Health Insurance Plans in India

1. Restoration Benefit: This benefit allows you to receive a set amount for the remaining duration of your policy, in case the original amount is exhausted. This is particularly useful in family floater health plans, where many members are part of a single health insurance policy. If any family member falls sick and uses the entire health cover, there’s no cover left for other family members to use if they end up in the hospital within that particular year. But with restoration benefits in place, there is no need to worry as the insurer shall restore the coverage value immediately for that remaining tenure, thus ensuring continuous coverage for all beneficiaries.

2. Organ Donor Expenses: The cost of organ donation treatments largely depends on where you live and at what hospital it is performed. Many health insurance companies include organ transplantation in their standard plans. While some insurers refund the entire cost, some insurers may impose an extra cost for organ transplantation procedures. But since there is coverage available for such treatments, the policyholder need not think too much before undergoing it.

3. Top-ups: There are some very important moments in one’s life, for instance, getting married, having kids, inheriting wealth from a relative, or being promoted to a higher level. No matter whatever be the reason, you might feel pressured to get additional health benefits simply because of an increase in your responsibilities. Sometimes it might be difficult to find new plans for every life event or to increase your health insurance cover. But with top-ups available, you can choose to increase the coverage of your existing policy, for a little extra premium.

4. No Claim Bonuses:  Your insurance company may reward you for not filing any claims during a policy year. If you make claims, your insurer could penalize you by adding loading fees to your renewal premium. It would be more beneficial if you were not responsible for claim-based loading. A few health insurance plans in India offer a benefit. This benefit prevents you from paying additional loading fees even if you file an insurance claim within the policy term.

5. Cash Allowance: Not all expenses are taken care of by your health insurance policy, as certain things have to be paid from your pocket, such as OPD costs, consultations, medicines, hospital staff charges, etc., There are health policies that provide daily cash allowance for taking care of daily out-of-pocket expenses, in case the policyholder gets admitted to the hospital.

6. Home Treatment: Domiciliary care or Home treatment is when a patient is treated at their home because of the unavailability of beds or facilities at the hospital. This is happening usually during the COVID-19 spread across the country. Many health insurers in India, cover homecare treatment if advised by the doctor, which is an advantage considering the ongoing situation.

7. Wellness programs: Health insurance policies are now packed with a lot of value additions such as health and wellness activities, for the betterment of policyholders’ mental and physical health. These programs offer rewards in the form of cashback on policy renewals, reward points, discount coupons for partners, exclusive invites to yoga, meditation, and weight loss classes, etc. Such activities help the policyholders to keep themselves fit while also making the insurer keep the claims lower.

8. AYUSH Benefit:  Nowadays, there are health insurance companies offering coverage for alternative treatments such as (AYUSH)- Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, Homeopathy, etc., which are quite advantageous for those who prefer to take them up as means of treatment.

9. Ambulance Cover: All the expenses incurred to avail of an ambulance service during a medical emergency are covered by the best health insurance in India.

10. Tax Benefits: If thinking, which health insurance is best in India in terms of tax benefits, then almost all health policies in India help you to save money on taxes. Most of the health plans in India allow you to claim the premiums you have paid for the health plan. These are the tax benefits under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

The Bottom Line

Having known about all the benefits of policies providing the best medical insurance in India, it is time for you to look beyond them as some simple covers that provide coverage for hospitalization only. So, first, understand your healthcare needs and then choose the best health policy that offers many benefits in addition to accessibility to affordable healthcare.