The rising cost of medical bills, coupled with a recent COVID-19 pandemic, has highlighted the importance of having a good health insurance policy since it safeguards us and our finances from sudden medical expenses.
Humans constantly want to provide our family members and close ones with the best possible lives. We ensure that they receive the finest housing options, education, and nutrition, and when they fall ill, we ensure that they receive the best medical care necessary for their recovery.
A comprehensive family health insurance policy is essential in this situation because medical costs can easily exceed your financial capabilities. In addition to protecting your finances, a good family health insurance policy will ensure that your loved ones receive the best care possible in illness or other health issues. So, what is health insurance? Let’s understand more in detail.
What are family health insurance plans?
Family health insurance plans are comprehensive health insurance policies for the entire family under a single policy. In essence, it is a base plan with certain floater plans attached to it to accommodate the different family members of the policyholder.
The premium rates for family insurance policies are generally a bit higher, but the sum insured is much more than the sum available in a regular health insurance plan.
Features of a Family Health Insurance Plan
Health Insurance companies provide some unique features to the policyholders, such as
- Cashless Hospitalisation: The cashless feature offered by health insurance companies is a real game changer when it comes to hospitalisations. The policyholder does not have to pay any money during the patient’s release since the hospital bill is cashlessly settled between the insurance company and the hospital.
- Accidental Cover: If any family member is injured in an accident, accidental coverage makes sure the policyholder is fully supported financially. This covers medical procedures, hospital stays, etc. The family is also entitled to certain compensations under the family health insurance policy in the case of a loss of a limb or death under the accident cover.
- Maternity Cover: The maternity cover rider is another feature that makes the family health insurance plan much better. With the Maternity Coverage Rider, the policyholder can ensure coverage for expecting family members. This covers fertility treatment costs, delivery charges, and hospitalisation expenses.
- Critical Illness Cover: With the critical illness rider, the policyholder can get a lump sum of compensation if any member suffers from any critical illness listed by the insurance company. Also, this money is received at the time of the first diagnosis.
Advantages of having a family health insurance policy
- Entire Family Coverage: One of the benefits of having a family health insurance policy is that it insures the entire family. Our busy schedules make it quite hectic to insure every family member with their health insurance plan. In some cases, it is because of this time-consuming ordeal that some people put off buying health insurance policies in the first place. Additionally, the premium submission process is much easier as one has to pay a single monthly premium for the entire family.
- Higher Coverage: Another great advantage of having a family health insurance policy is that each individual gets broader coverage. Since the coverage of a family plan is quite high and assuming only one family member falls ill at a given time, the entire insurance coverage amount is accessible by the individual family member, resulting in a higher coverage amount.
- Additional Members: Family health insurance plans offer great flexibility when adding new family members in the case of childbirth or marriage. One just has to inform the respective insurance company, easily make necessary changes to the existing family insurance plan, and add any number of new members, even during the term of the insurance plan.
- Additional Bonuses: Family health insurance plans offer great add-on features for different family members and their healthcare needs. For example, for older people, there are riders like critical illness covers, or if a family member is pregnant, they can easily use the maternity cover rider.
- Comprehensive Coverage: Family health insurance plans offer complete, comprehensive coverage plans where one can pick and choose different riders to suit your family members better. This gives you the peace of mind that your family is protected in medical emergencies.
- Tax Benefits: In addition to the different advantages of having a family health insurance policy, one can also get certain tax benefits. Under the Income Tax Act section 80D, if you are paying the health insurance premiums of your parents or the entire family for that purpose, you are eligible for tax deductions of INR 25,000, which rises to INR 50,000 if both your parents are senior citizens.
In conclusion,
Numerous advantages provided by family health insurance policies make it a no-brainer to choose family insurance policies. It also gives you peace of mind and your family comprehensive healthcare protection.
