Health Information

It is absolutely vital that as one approaches old age, one has a substantial health insurance cover. The probability that one’s health care expenses would increase substantially is almost a given. In this piece we look and compare the different health insurance plans that are available in the market for senior citizens. While every health insurance company wants to insure the young (and almost by definition, more healthy), there are very few plans which provide health insurance to people beyond 60. Another interesting thing to note here is that most of the health insurance plans for senior citizens is offered by the public sector general insurance companies.

The health insurance plans available for senior citizens are:

Varistha Mediclaim by National Insurance Senior Citizen plan by Oriental Insurance Mediclaim for Senior Citizens by New India Assurance Senior Citizen Plan by United India Insurance Red Carpet Plan by Star Health Insurance

Varistha Mediclaim by National Insurance: This policy can be bought by anyone between 60 and 80 years of age. Renewals can be done upto the age of 90. Between the age bands of 76-80, premiums have an added factor of 10% and between 80 to 90 years of age, premiums are grossed up by 20%. The sum insured under this policy for hospitalization is Rs 1 lakh. For critical illness, the sum insured is Rs 2 lakhs. Under the critical illness cover, diseases such as cancer, renal failure, stroke, organ transplants etc are covered. If the person has already been insured for 3 years through a health insurance policy, then he or she does not have to undergo a medical test, else there has to be a medical test under the prospective customer’s costs. For domiciliary treatment, the maximum claim is fixed at 20% of the sum insured. Ambulance charges upto Rs 1000 are covered under this policy. For a mediclaim cover of Rs 1 lakh and a critical illness cover of Rs 2 lakhs, the premium varies between Rs 6200 (for a 60-65 year old) to Rs 9200 (for a 75-80 year old). One interesting feature of this policy is that pre existing hypertension and diabetes are covered from the 1st year itself of the policy by paying 10% additional premium for each of the two diseases. Pre existing is of course not available for the critical illness policy. Other pre existing diseases are covered after 1 policy year. Dialysis, chemotherapy and radiotherapy for preexisting ailment is never covered. Claims are paid only for events that occur within India. Claims which occur within the first 30 days of the commencement of the policy will not be covered, unless in the case of the person being insured with an Insurance Company without break for the past 12 months. For the purpose of this policy, pre existing diseases such as cataract, piles, fistula, hernia, benign lumps, joint replacement etc will not be covered in the first 12 months. War related medical claims, vaccination, spectacles cost, plastic surgery, corrective dental surgery, venereal disease, vitamins and tonics which are not part of the treatment, nuclear disaster related health claims, alternative treatment like homeopathy etc are excluded.

Opinion: We think it is one of the best policies for senior citizens, except that the sum insured is low. They are quite generous as far as the norms for entry age and pre existing diseases are concerned.

2. Senior Citizen Specified Disease Plan by Oriental Insurance: In this plan, the policyholder has the option to choose sum insured of Rs 1 lakh, 2 lakhs, 3 lakhs, 4 lakhs or 5 lakhs. One restrictive feature of this policy is that 20% of any claim amount has to be co-paid by the insured. Cashless payment through TPA is restricted to Rs 1 lakh. This plan covers 10 specified diseases: cancer, renal failure, heart diseases, liver related diseases, COPD (lung ailment), stroke, prostrate, orthopaedic disease, ophthalmic disease, accidental injury and knee replacement. The amount that one can claim for a particular disease is restricted as a percentage of the sum insured (for e.g., 50% of the sum insured can be claimed for cancer, while 20% of the sum insured can be claimed for stroke). A sum insured of Rs 1 lakh will cost Rs 4500 for a 65 year old, while it will cost Rs 6400 if one is eighty years old or beyond. While this may seem cheaper than National Insurance’s Varistha medical scheme, it is less wide in scope. This policy has an interesting refund of premium clause if one withdraws from the policy: if the policyholder gets out of the policy within the first month, 75% of the premium is returned and if he opts out between 3 to 6 months of the policy, 25% of the premium is returned. In this policy, pre-existing diseases are not covered for a period of 2 policy years. Other exclusions are very similar to those of National’s Varistha medical scheme.Opinion: a good scheme in terms of the level of sum insured and price, but the scope of diseases covered is restrictive. Another issue is that pre-existing is covered only after 2 policy years.

Mediclaim for Senior Citizens by New India Assurance: This policy is available for senior citizens between 60 and 80 years, and the sum insured can be Rs 1 lakh or Rs 1.5 lakhs. Pre existing diseases are covered after 18 continuous months of coverage , while for diabetes and hypertension to be covered, additional premium needs to be paid. Pre hospitalization is covered for 30 days, while post hospitalization is covered for 60 days. An insurance of Rs 1 lakh for a 65 year old will cost Rs 3850 while it will cost Rs 5150 for an 80 year old. Thus, premiums are very competitively priced. If one wants to extend beyond 80 years, then loading of 10% or 20% has to be paid. For pre existing diabetes or hypertension, an additional premium of 10% each has to be paid. One interesting feature is that there is a 10% discount if one’s spouse is also covered under this policy. This policy also has the same partial refund norms on cancellation as Oriental’s Specified Disease Plan. Claims would be paid only for medical treatment in India. The exclusion conditions are standard, and are very similar to National’s Varistha Mediclaim.Opinion: Attractively priced. Sum insured ceilings are low. The product brochure is silent on co-pay, and thus there is no co-pay requirement in all probability.

United India Insurance’s Specified Disease Plan: In this policy, sum insured of Rs 50,000 to Rs 300,000 is available to people between 60 to 80 years of age. Sum insured of Rs 1 lakh will cost Rs 3715 for a 65 year old, and Rs 8613 for an 80 year old. So while it is cheaper for the younger age bands, it is a bit expensive for the older age groups. An interesting feature of this policy is that there is a hospitalization cash payment from the 3rd day of hospitalization on payment of a particular additional premium. While other exclusion features of this policy are comparable to that of the previous 3 policies that we have discussed, the biggest problem of this policy is that this has a pre-existing waiting period of 4 years.Opinion: Pre -existing waiting period of 4 years is restrictive

Star Health’s Red Carpet Plan: This plan has been a good marketing success. While one barely gets to hear about the reasonably broad, well priced schemes of the 4 nationalised companies, the market is quite excited about Star Health’s Red Carpet scheme. The sum insured under this policy can be for Rs 1 lakh, Rs 2 lakhs, Rs 3 lakhs, Rs 4 lakhs or Rs 5 lakhs. Age of entry is restricted between 60 and 69 years. Pre existing diseases are covered from the 1st year itself, except for those preexisting diseases for which the insured received payment in the preceding 12 months. Subsequently, these pre-existing diseases are covered. There are sub limits under this policy wherein different diseases have different limits as a percentage of the sum insured. Sum insured of Rs 1 lakh will cost Rs 4900 at entry, while a sum insured of Rs 5 lakhs will cost Rs 20000.. The biggest catch in this policy is that there is a 50% co-payment for pre existing diseases and 30% co-payment for other diseases!! Other exclusions are very similar to what is there for the nationalized companies.

Opinion: Simple, well marketed claim. But the co-payment terms are a huge negative! The ceiling for maximum age at entry is quite low (69 years), though the guaranteed renewal feature is a big positive. Also, the sum insured levels of Rs 5 lakh is quite high and attractive in these days of escalated medical costs.

In summary, we feel that National’s Varistha Plan is the widest in scope. The only issue with the plans of the Nationalised Insurance companies is that the sum insured levels offered might not be adequate for today’s high healthcare costs. On the other hand, they are at least offering senior citizen health plans. It is very difficult to locate any meaningful health insurance scheme for senior citizens offered by any private health insurance company, except Star Health. The only problem that we see with Star Health’s Red Carpet plan is that of the Co-pay restriction.

Many people look for cheap health insurance services in India. It is recommended that these people should consider coverage limit, besides premium to ensure that they get sufficient coverage. Easy health from Apollo Munich is one such plan that can be purchased at the rate of just few rupees per day.

A person buys as per his/her income. A rich person always looks for expensive items, whereas a person with low income is always in search of cheaper products. Similarly, a person with low income searches for cheap health insurance services in India. It might be sought after by people who are not satisfied with the services of providers. Thus, they want to have cheaper products to ensure that they do not invest much in these plans, as they are not sure whether they will be able to avail health coverage against them or not.

There is no harm in buying cheap health insurance services in India, but the point of consideration is that the search for the same should not be limited to premium only. A person should also keep an eye on coverage limit, besides premium and if there is a wide coverage offered, then a person can buy such plans that offer cheap health insurance services in India.

Otherwise, a person should focus more on cost-effective health insurance, which means that premium paid is sufficient for the coverage offered. There can be cheap plans but when it comes to coverage, there are every less number of plans that offer wide coverage at reasonable rates. Thus, a person looking for these plans should make a thorough search to ensure that he/she is able to get sufficient coverage.

Easy Health is one such plan that bring along with it cheap health insurance services in India and at the same time, can be said cost-effective plan. It is because it offers wide cover at affordable rates. Its cover includes hospitalization expenses, pre- and post-hospitalization expenses, daycare procedure, health check-ups, maternity benefits, new born baby coverage, critical illness cover, etc. this plan can be purchase at the rate of just few rupees per day.

If you are one of the millions of self employed Americans with no health insurance, take advantage of the new affordable health insurance options now available. With a health savings account and a high deductible individual or family policy you can afford to protect your family’s health. And it has tax benefits too.

A Health Savings Account is a new Affordable health insurance option. Health Savings Accounts will change the way millions can save to meet their health care needs. HSAs will help consumers have more choice in meeting their health care needs The account is set up as a savings account, but it allows you to use the funds to pay for your health care expenses. With an HSA you can pay for current health expenses and save for future qualified medical and retiree health expenses on a tax-free basis.

You have to be covered by a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) to take advantage of HSAs. An HDHP generally costs less than traditional health care coverage, so the money you save on insurance can be put into the Health Savings Account. The national average premium for an individual policy is only $92 per month and $272 per month for a family policy.

Using an HSA can lower your tax bill too. If you make the maximum tax-deductible annual contribution this year, these new health insurance premiums are tax deductible so your after-tax cost will be even less!

These new plans reward you for staying healthy. Because they are based on your actual use of health care services, your premium is lower. In a traditional health care plan the premium is based on an average, so you get to pay based on the health risks of a big group. You own and control the money in your HSA. You make the decision on how to spend the money – as long as you stick to qualified medical expenses. To view a detailed list of acceptable expenses, view the IRS Publication 502. Also, you make the decision about what types of investments to make for the money in the account to grow.

If you invest in a Health Savings Accounts now, by the time April rolls around next year, you’ll not only have a good health care option in place, you’ll have a tax benefit as well.

An individual having health insurance is protected against running up large an extensive medical expenses. Health insurance coverage offers folks either partial or full coverage for certain medical procedures and treatments. On the other hand, life insurance it is an insurance policy that pays what’s called the face value of the life insurance policy to a beneficiary if the person whose life is insured dies. This value or what’s called the face value of the policy is paid out to the beneficiary in one lump sum payment.

When shopping for life insurance you will find two basic types: these types are what are called whole life and term life insurance. Term life insurance is much less expensive than full life insurance because of the fact it offers nothing more than simply life insurance coverage in the event that the person who is insured dies. Term life insurance can be purchased for durations as little as one year or as long as 30 years. The beneficiary of the term life insurance policy receives the proceeds or the face value of the policy if the person that was insured dies some time during the term of this life insurance policy. This might explain why so many people decide to wait until they get a little older before making a purchase of life insurance. Not always a wise idea though.

Whole life insurance combines the life insurance protection benefit along with an investment plan. The premium or the amount of money a person pays every period (monthly, quarterly or yearly) for a whole life policy is split between the life insurance premium and the investment portion of the policy. The investment vehicle portion of the whole life policy can be invested in mutual funds, money market, on the stock market and bonds and in some cases can be chosen by the person who is insured. One of the benefits of a whole life insurance policy is that it forces the saving of money for retirement by the person who is insured. This occurs by taking a portion of the premium and investing it in one of the investment vehicles listed above. These policies are in reality though, typically loaded with commissions and fees. After taking these costs into consideration, you may decide that this is not the best use of your investment dollars.

As you may have already determined, a life insurance policy differs from that of a health insurance policy. The price a person will pay for both a life insurance policy and a health insurance policy is determined by an individual’s age and physical well-being or health. As a general rule, those folks who are healthy and young will pay less for each policy than those folks who are bit older and who may be in poorer general health.

Given the financial choice between the two, it is impossible in this article to advise folks on which is better, a health insurance policy or life insurance policy. The two are designed to address different needs in a person’s life. A lot of folks find that their employer offers health insurance as well as the option to add on term life insurance coverage for a small or nominal fee. If you find yourself in this situation by all means take advantage of it. However when it comes to life insurance, be advised that if you lose your job you lose your life insurance coverage. It may be advisable to look into carrying term life insurance outside of your workplace.

If you find yourself on a budget and need to decide which insurance policy to purchase, this becomes of course determined by how much you can afford to pay each month and of course on your personal situation. If you find yourself having to choose between a health insurance plan and a life insurance plan, you may want to be advised to choose the health insurance coverage. Understanding that the health insurance coverage will be more expensive for you each month, bear in mind that it only takes one accident or medical illness to cause you to have enormous medical bills. Also this is something else to consider. If you find yourself with large medical bills as a result of not having health insurance, you may want to consider the idea of purchasing a term life insurance policy having a face value that is large enough to pay off your bills. Your spouse can be designated as your beneficiary. This way if something were to happen to you, your spouse would not be left with the debt.

If your plan at work does not include a health insurance benefit or you are self employed or simply looking to provide health insurance coverage for yourself and your family outside the workplace environment, a great place to start your research is Blue Cross Blue Shield (www dot BCBS dot com) or Aetna (www dot aetna dot com). This is not necessarily an endorsement but is a good place to start in understanding the types of health insurance plans available out there today. These two large providers operate in most of our 50 states so your likelyhood of learning about the types of health insurance plans available in your state from different insurers is high.

As always, seek the advice of a professional financial planner before deciding on a course of action that you do not fully understand.