Religare – Can I take this Health Insurance Policy

       

Religare is one of the leading diversified financial services company in India, Religare health insurance was launched in India in 2012 and within short span of time they were able to make significant progress in health insurance field. They had a best claim settlement ratio in this sector and growing aggressively, they have tie up with all the leading chain of hospitals and local hospitals in the major cities. Along with health insurance they also provide Travel insurance, critical insurance and Accident insurance and with disability benefits.

The major health insurance plans offered by religare are,

Care,

Care Freedom,

Enhance,

Joy

 Care;

Care is for first time insurance takers, they have a very simple process of issuing a policy and it is of the buyer to provide all information clearly and get all the doubts clarified before paying the premium. They have a very general exclusion list and choosing the sum assured is at buyers choice.

Care Freedom;

This policy is for Senior citizens and waiting period for pre existing disease is 2 years, unlike other insurance companies which have 4 years waiting period for covering pre existing diseases. They have a very general exclusion list and choosing the sum assured is at buyers choice.

Enhance;

Enhance is a Top up insurance policy, those who has some basic health insurance coverage can get a better cover by going for this policy. After 4 years of continuing this policy you will be eligible to convert this top up cover to comprehensive coverage policy.

Joy;

This is basically for new born and maternity coverage, there is a waiting period of 4 years for this policy if there is pre existing disease and maximum entry age is 45.

Religare health insurance is one of the best in this sector and they are working hard to stay ahead of the rest. With the above covers they have covered people of all ages and the policy names are also simple to remember without any constraints.

Cigna TTK - Can I take this Health Insurance policy?

                        

Cigna TTK health insurance provider is the joint venture between cigna global health insurers and TTK from India. Cigna is the globally recognized name spread across 30 countries and it is listed as 97 in the fortune 500 companies with revenue standing at 35 billion dollars. TTK has been performing the role of third party medical service providers and have joined with Cigna from USA to become health insurers. Two giants have formed an alliance to provide medical care in India with private rooms in 3500+ hospitals across India.

Plans available in this Insurer;

They provide plans based on the sum insured in the name of Pro Health. Let us see those in detail;

ProHealth Insurance Protect Plan

Insurance upto 4.5 lakhs is provided under this policy, it provides worldwide emergency cover with consultation and pharmacy charges.

ProHealth Insurance Plus Plan

Insurance between 4.5 to 10 lakhs is provided under this policy. 10% discount is provided if it is taken as a family floater. Maternity benefits with new born expenses along with vaccination are taken care.

Pro Health Insurance Preferred Plan

Sum insured under this policy are from 15 to 50 lakhs. Health maintenance benefit are provided each year of upto 15000 and a free check up facility is provided on each policy renewal.

Pro Health Insurance Premier Plan

It provides a humongous coverage of upto 1 crore. Everything from diagnostics, maternity benefit, pharmacy charges, worldwide emergency care are taken care under this policy.

Lifestyle Protection Plans:

Accident care and critical illness are provided under this Lifestyle protection plans,

Lifestyle Protection-Critical Care Plan

For first time diagnosis it is covering upto 15 diseases and 30 critical illnesses are covered under this plan with the option of Base and Enhanced plan. It is providing the option to get the payment as lumpsum or in staggering manner to keep ourself financially secured during those tough times.

Lifestyle Protection-Accident Care Plan

This accident care plan provides coverage for death, disablement, partial disablement, loss of employment and provides education fund and benefits for orphaned child.

    

Benefits of this policy;

It is providing basic facilities on par with other insurance provides with the exception of day care benefits and pharmacy charges based on the plan you have taken. We have seen the need for health insurance here.

You can either take a new policy or go for top up health insurance with this company as they will provide enhanced coverage at lesser price 

Top Up Health Insurance

          

Medical costs have escalated by a large extent in the last decade alone owing to rapidly increasing life style among all classes and it will surely keep on increasing. General medical inflation rate in Asia pacific is 10% and in India it is around 12-13% in the last 3 years whereas the inflation has also stayed around 10% in the same time period. Reality is even more and these are official records done by major insurance companies based on their claims.Now you can understand the price increase easily. Lifestyle increase should not come at the cost of health as health is the only wealth for everybody and to their family. Give greater importance to healthy eating for few days in a week or have daily walking introduced in your daily life. In most of the companies nowadays health insurance is provided automatically once an employee gets introduced into their company, so this topic is for them also.

Medical costs;

Cost of new drugs is rapidly increasing and if you want to get treated in a better way, you need to have more money or you should have proper health insurance which provides 100% cover. A normal fever with cold itself can make a bigger hole in your monthly expenditure. In this context if you get any other disease which requires surgery will make you to spend at least a lakh and other medicine cost thereafter for a certain period.

Doctor’s fees, frequent lab tests, surgery fees, room rent has been increased every year by the bigger organization to work in a profitable mode.

High BP,

High Cholesterol,

Obesity,

Physical inactivity,

Smoking,

Bad nutrition

All the above factors are leading to adverse effect on one’s health. So if you doubt that you may fall into any of these categories, get insured right away for higher sum assured.

Having base cover, should I go for top up?

Many of the working employees may get a cover in their company but read through the policy document on things which all is getting covered and is there any clause in claim processing. Most of the group insurance policies will be offered with co-pay facility only and the sum insured will be less around 5-7 lakhs only which may not be adequate. Also if you are one among the frequent job hoppers it is best advisable to get a maximum cover outside your company as most of the companies have a clause to cover pre existing disease only after 4 years.

Even if you are not getting a separate cover, go for a top up of at least 15-20 lakh and it is a must considering the cost of curing cancer, cardio vascular disease etc.

There are many instances where the person who had taken insurance just one year before had utilized it for his\her treatment of cancer which would have not been possible without it. India unlike western countries have not provided sufficient cover be it health or life and TN has been special in providing health cover for free who ever had got enrolled under TN Government scheme. There has been huge push done to central government to bring reforms to health sector, hope we get it by this year.

Should I take Health Insurance - 2?

                                        

We had seen the need for health insurance in our last article; in this article we will see the benefits of getting this insurance and how careful we should while choosing this one. The main and important benefit is to get your savings to be protected from this medical emergency. We all work hard to earn and the hard earned money is for near and dear ones. If any medical emergency occurs all attention will be to save ourselves and the dear ones rather than keeping the money in our bank account. This can occur to anybody at any time and the best way is to keep ourselves guarded with Health Insurance.

In most of the offices they provide group insurance policy, but it is advisable to have a personalized health insurance policy to have continuity and to get a comprehensive coverage. Group policy may not cover all the diseases and there may be a co-payment clause in which you will be forced to share the fees with the hospital. Another important point to note is due to globalization or due to urge to earn more, many of us are shifting companies often and this may result in discontinuity of health insurance policy because during treatment if it is classified as pre existing disease new company may not entertain to reimburse or provide cashless facility.

Benefits of health insurance

• Most of the insurance companies offer 24 hour day care treatment also which will be of great help.
• Ambulance cover is provided nowadays
• Second opinion can be sought if we have doubt with the first medical checkup as it may help in unwanted spending.
• Pre natal and post natal hospitalization cover is provided.
• Room rent, doctor fees, surgery fees, medical bills etc will be covered with this single policy.
• In some of the companies free medical checkup is allowed once in a year as add on benefit.
• A two year policy will have a reduced premium and protect you from increase in price of premium due to inflation.

Even day care treatments are accepted in many of the policies based on doctor’s advice as many of the laser surgery are getting completed within hours and people are asked to leave hospital immediately.

Health insurance offered by

Health insurance is part of Life Insurance. In most of the corporate companies, this is being offered as group policy, where there will be a cap limit to any of the ailments or else there will be copayment rule. In copayment person has to share part of his medical payments by himself and the rest will be borne by the insurance company. In India health insurance is being offered by Religare, Apollo munich, ICICI prudential, Max Bupa etc.

Exclusions and things to check:

The most important thing to check is the waiting period, during which policy will not be covered for specific disease. Any serious pre existing disease has to be told to the insurance companies in advance to get it checked for policy coverage, because once found later the paid premium will be of no use. Diagnostic charges, alternative therapies, abortion, additional supplements, specific ailments, resulting from war are not covered in this policy. Claim ratio of the company needs to be analyzed as this says how soon they are responding to the claims.

How much to Take?

A policy of few lakhs of no use, it is advisable to take a policy of no less than 10lakhs as any heart related ailments can make you spend a minimum of lakhs in any hospital. If you want to get treatment from a reputed hospital the bed charges, doctor fees, surgery charges, lab tests and pills will run in to some extra amount which cannot be reduced, so it is really needed to get a cover of minimum of 10 lakhs initially and slowly the cover can be increased.

A Health insurance policy can be taken in online easily and for a 25 – 35 year old the premium will be not more than 10000.

Should I take Health Insurance - 1?

      

Insurance is nothing but risk protection, in the same way health insurance is the pure protection of one’s health. It is grouped under Life insurance. It is being provided by most of the insurance companies in India. Similar to Term policy this one also pure risk protection, if you get any disease it can be used or else this policy will be of no use, let us see how this is very essential in today’s world.

Need for HealthInsurance

If we keep ourselves in good health condition, one may presume no need of this policy, but you may not know the daily risk which may result in serious injuries all of a sudden. The increase in medical inflation may not be known to you unless someone close to has been cured for any ailment. Medical inflation is very rapid and Government has not stepped in to reduce it or provide an alternate for this. It had increased and continuously increasing at a rate of 15 to 20%. Therefore it is best to keep this policy as a friend. Even a close friend may not be able to help you with the money during his difficult times, but this friend i.e health insurance will be of great help which will help you in getting out of hospital easily.

Whether you agree or not, our food habits had changed tremendously from what we have been having to what we have been offered nowadays. It is just that we have been running in fast lane from Monday to Friday and we just grab the food half heartedly in the run to office and gorge food rapidly in the half an hour gap for lunch to work again. Not to miss the dinner parties and office lunches were we show who we are in having sumptuous meal. This irregular food habits will show us the world of medicines to have in our mid thirties. Our parent had started taking the medicines from their fifties and sixties but we have been getting to the world of hypertension and diabetes right from thirties and some even in early twenties. These two are serious threats which may lead you to other medical complications easily. Are you saying you are healthy inspite of having this lifestyle, hold on as you may not how your body will behave once the breakeven point is reached?

This is not to frighten you and make you seriously ill, it is just to make you understand how serious medical complications may be if not attended on time.

Medical Inflation

This may be a new term, but you need to know as the price of doctor’s fees along with getting treatment from a reputed medical hospital has increased steeply in the last few years. When is the last time you have visited a Government hospital for any treatment and got a good treatment, am sure almost NIL. Days are gone when we have got good treatment along with pills within 50 or 100. Now a doctor fees is at a minimum of 100 and any injection along with pills for a normal fever will get you around a minimum of 300. If the fever continued for few more weeks, then bills for lab testing and day care treatment will run into some thousands.

All these are for normal or severe fever, cold etc anything which requires a surgery may get into serious trouble as it may dent your savings.

You can just have a look at the medical treatment cost of various countries in comparison with India

Look at the cost of some of the heard names like Angioplast, Heart bypass, Heart valve replacement etc itself is running into some lakhs. Do you believe that with this changed lifestyle, less money in bank account and more loans to close will you be able to manage this sudden situation?

Is it big Saver?

Yes, absolutely if someone is ready to spend for you in lakhs when you are just paying a premium of some thousands, is it not big saving in your financial life? Don’t think about the situation that you are not utilizing this service, you don’t need to utilize if you are healthy enough. You can get a free health checkup every year and make sure that you are healthy enough.

Cancer Insurance Policy - 2

                                                     

                                          [Imagesource : livemint.com]

Lifestyle changes are the main reason for cancer and the only way to combat this deadly disease is to our body better than anybody else. Any small change has to be given care if it is persistent for a long time. No need to panic as we have much better facilities for getting cured. Many were not aware until Lisa ray, Yuvaraj singh, Manisha koirala got themselves cured from cancer and back with a bang with the same vigor and proved to the world they can lead a normal life.

Cost of treatment

Most of the cancer treatment if found in the latter stages will run into lakhs which is not affordable by most of the people. Many are first generation income earners with many loans to close and cancer can cause a huge burden to their current lifestyle and it will emotionally drain your family. Get yourself insured with very less premium for a maximum coverage for cancer as this will not be covered with normal health insurance policy. Just like air this is spreading everywhere due to pollution unhealthy lifestyle, smoking, drinking etc.

Benefits of cancer insurance

è Comprehensive coverage that takes care of early and advanced stages

è Free medical screening every year for the entre duration of the policy

è Future premium waiver if advanced stage is detected

è Easy cash payouts during treatment

è Premium covered under section 80D

Geography of cancer as mentioned in India today

                                                 

Premium may be as low as 300 per month for a policy of 10 lakhs. Allocating 10 per day for protecting yourself from a dreadful disease should be necessary.

Your Money Matters – Even a healthy lifestyle and body needs proper attention, get insured and stay healthy

Cancer insurance policy

                                              

                                                                        [imagesource : insuranceroots.com]

Why this policy?

Nobody knows when and how this cancer comes to anybody, just like the dialogue of superstar of India, ‘I don’t know when and how I will come, but will definitely come when in need’, but the sad part is no one wish to get this cancer as most of them are not curable and the cost of getting cured is humongous that it may wipe out all your savings and your energy. The concept of prevention is better than cure is not applicable, as it is difficult to apply to this cancer as many miss out the symptoms of cancer and the awareness of getting checked for this is very less.

If cancer is found in the early stages it can be cured at a cost and only on certain rare occurrences if found in stage 3 or 4 it is difficult to give treatment and cure the person. The cost of treatment will also be higher in the latter stages. Basically the treatment consists of doctor visits, lab tests, Scans, Radiation treatments, drug costs, hospital stays and visits, surgery costs and home care. A recent study in United States found that cost of cancer care is large due to the cost of new drugs. Of the 12 prescribed drugs there, 11 were priced above 1million dollar for a year of treatment. Cost of chemotherapy varies with the type of cancer and it is the only alternative to reduce the re-occurrence of cancer.

History

Cancer insurance policy has emerged around 50 years ago, it was created by American heritage life insurance and Aflac for the people who have been asking coverage for this disease. Though emergence of this disease has increased considerably in the last few decades the cost of medical treatment has stayed higher due to the complex nature of this disease.

There is no definite reason for the occurrence of cancer cells in anybody’s body. During mutation of cell some cells get damaged and instead of getting dyeing they start accumulating and form the cancer tissue and they start invading other parts of the body. A person having lung cancer may also have cancer cells spreading to stomach, throat etc.  There are more than 100 different types of cancer.

Symptoms of cancer

1)      Coughing, chest pain and breathlessness

2)      Changes in bowel habits such as pain in abdomen, persistent bloating, blood on your stools etc

3)      Bleeding when you cough, vomit, during urination etc

4)      New irregular Moles

5)      Unexplained weight loss

6)      Lump in your breast

These are some of the symptoms that may cause cancer; get it checked with your family doctor before jumping into conclusions.