The best way to make your aging parents feel cared for is to give them a health insurance policy. A customized health insurance for senior citizens plans is critical; as it assures that they’re independent financially and taken care of in case of critical illness.
With several health insurances for senior citizens available at your disposal today, comparing and selecting a good one could be a cumbersome and daunting task. For ensuring that you pick a policy which is best for you, it’s imperative for you to evaluate all the essential aspects and options, and then take a well-informed decision.
Importance of having health insurance for senior citizens
It is important to have health insurance for senior citizens due to various reasons such as –
- Medical Expenses: Paying off medical bills could be strenuous for the senior citizens, particularly with the increase in treatment costs for minor as well as major illnesses.
- Financial Independence: Elderly parents are mostly dependent on their children for financial support unless they have a proper pension provision in place. Not everyone receives a pension; hence, covering the medical expenses with help of a health insurance plan is a prudent decision.
- Stress-free retirement: Health insurance schemes help you in stress-free planning. Though getting sick is expected with ageing, you could still plan for ensuring that all the critical medical expenditures are taken care of in a hassle-free and systematic way.
- Financial Security: After a certain age, an individual wishes to retire and live on the interest earned from savings or on the pensions. But growing older can attract ailments and diseases. These unforeseen circumstances could wipe off all your savings in case you don’t have health insurance. If an older person in the family doesn’t have a health insurance plan, then the bread-earner of the family might need to slog harder for paying off all the medical expenses, managing the household expenses, and also paying off interest-ridden loans. This makes the life of the aged person as well as the breadwinner miserable. Why wait for such a situation when health insurance offers the best plans for senior citizens?The present lifestyle of individuals is more prone to various diseases which require medical attention and equivalent health care costs rising at a rapid pace. Max Bupa health insurance, keeping the monthly earnings of an individual in view, offers a wide range of health insurance plans.
Benefits of health insurance plan for senior citizens
The following are some of the benefits which a health insurance plan offers to the senior citizens:
- Cost of hospitalization – The health insurance policy would pay for the hospitalization charges which include the cost of doctor’s fees, medicines, nursing, etc.
- Going Cashless – Health insurance policies for senior citizens also offer cashless hospitalization facility across the network of hospitals.
- Cost of Daycare – The health care policy would also cover the costs associated with procedures which don’t require any hospitalization.
- Pre-existing ailments and diseases – Most of the health policies cover the pre-existing diseases which are subject to specific terms and conditions
- Ambulance cost – Most of the health insurance plans cover ambulance charges.
- Income Tax benefit – Under section 80D of Income Tax Act, 1961, the premium which is paid towards health insurance is allowed as an income tax exemption.
How to Choose a Health Insurance Plan for Senior Citizens?
Getting health insurance for aged parents needs to be done sensibly as you would wish to give them the best care. More often than not, health insurances for senior citizenscome with their own limitations like stringent medical checkups, exhaustive exclusions, and high premiums to coverage. Therefore, it becomes imperative to look out for specific variables, while buying health insurances for senior citizens. Keeping the following in mind while selecting health insurance for senior citizens can help you get the best out of a health insurance plan:
- Knowing the medical history – At the time of buying the health insurance policy for your parents, you should know about their medical history. However, they may also be unaware of prevailing medical conditions which they might be suffering from. In such situations, it would be tough to rely merely on their own understanding of their medical history. Before giving such crucial information to an insurance company, it’s always better to do a cross-verification.
- Comparing and choosing a plan – There are various senior citizen health insurance plans which are available online today. It’s essential that you compare these various schemes. Comparison between these health insurance policies could be done on various factors like coverage, price, inclusions, exclusions and riders/add-ons.
- Filling the proposal form – While selecting a health insurance policy, feed in the accurate and relevant information. Incorrect and irrelevant information can cause problems and the insurer could reject the application.
- Doing a medical check-up – An insured might have to undergo medical screenings after the proposal form is submitted. The doctors on insurance company’s panel would then verify the information which is related to medical conditions of the insured. Depending on policyholder’s health, a few medical tests might be required by the doctors. Some of these tests include blood routine, lipid profile, sonography, urine routine, sugar, liver and kidney function, etc. Note: There are few senior citizen health insurance policies which don’t require such pre-policy medical screenings.
In a Nutshell
Health insurance for senior citizens lets old to live comfortably and safeguards them from all the possible health risk. Make it easy, safe and secure for both them and yourself, by getting them a health insurance policy. Choose the best policy for them for keeping yourself as well as them protected from any unexpected health risks. The sooner you get the health insurance policy, the better it is for you and your finances.
