Things to Know About Travel & Health Insurance

Hi guys,

Today’s post is a little different, I wanted to share some things about health and travel insurance as it is still taken for granted and many people are not covered.

One of my dear friends recently got diagnosed with Malaria and had to be admitted to a hospital. Getting admitted in a hospital (without surgery) can set you back by around 20,000/ day. It is here that the importance of health insurance policies comes into the picture.

Health insurance in India, popularly known as Mediclaim, is nothing but an Insurance which covers expenses related to necessary hospitalization due to a sickness or an accident. Health insurance is generally an annual policy, renewable every year. The policy covers hospitalization due to sickness and accidental injury. You can claim health insurance in 2 ways – cashless or reimbursement.

Cashless – You don’t have to pay anything. You go to the insurance company’s website, check out their network of Hospitals & get admitted to the nearest network hospital which gives admittance just by showing the cashless card (which will be processed within 2-3 hours)

Reimbursement – In case you happen to be admitted in a hospital which is not in the network of your insurance company, you will have to make all payments on your own to the hospital, and then claim the same from the insurance company.

Tips for choosing a health insurance plan

Opt for family floater

If a family of three buys a family floater mediclaim of 3 lakhs, the full family covered can make claims of upto Rs. 3 lakh in a year, subject to other terms and conditions in the policy. In most policies self, spouse, and kids are covered in a family floater policy. On the other hand, individual mediclaim is a product where each member is covered under a separate Sum Insured. Taking individual policies turns out to be more expensive than family floater.

Cover pre-existing diseases

Pre-existing ailments or diseases are symptoms, diagnosed ailments, or any existing or past health condition which exist at the time of applying for mediclaim policy. When you apply for a mediclaim, please ensure that you provide a detailed medical background about your family. Ailments which already exist are generally covered by mediclaim after 4 years. In a recent trend, most insurance companies now have started putting permanent exclusions for pre-existing diseases in the policy.

Royal Sundaram Health Insurance has come out with their policies with extended features as listed below:

• No room rent capping (some policies cap hospital room rent at a measly number)

• No Disease specific sub limits.( most policies in the market will restrict the amount payable for defined illness / treatments )

Travelling is something that is enjoyed by everyone. But travelling overseas usually means that one is entering a new and unknown land where the language, culture, people, and conditions are different. If in such a new land, one may face the plight of loss of baggage, robbery, health problems etc. During such difficult times, financial aid is needed, and that’s when travel insurance comes to your rescue. While one is on a trip, it is good to hope that your trip proceeds as expected and planned, but it is not necessary that it will.

Out of India, expenses for hospitalization are higher than those within India. Thus, if one is traveling overseas, purchasing a travel insurance can protect the insured against such unexpected expenses due to ill health or accidents. If one is injured due to the accident or falls ill during the trip then the expenses of the medication as well as for hospitalization or emergency evacuation is paid partly or fully(this will depend on the policy coverage offered) by the travel insurance company and thus less burden on the insured.

Royal Sundaram’s Travel Insurance covers almost everything you can think of;

• Overseas medical covers of up to US$ 150,000.

• Security against unexpected emergency surgeries, diagnostic tests (such as X-Ray, blood tests, scans) and medical aid prescribed by the attending physician

• Covers emergencies and essential dental treatments

• Total coverage for loss of checked-in baggage

• Coverage for delays of checked-in baggage which includes reimbursement for emergency purchase of clothing and toiletries, up to a certain limit

• Coverage for loss of travel documents which includes reimbursements and reissuing duplicate documents

• You can also avail hijack distress allowance under this scheme

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