Medical insurance benefit

06 September, 2019

Today when the healthcare bills have observed massive inflation, medical insurance policies come as a saviour to cover all your medical care bills. To protect yourself from high-priced hospital expenses, it is vital to invest in the right health insurance plan. Although there are numerous advantages of medical insurance, here are some of the best medical insurance benefits.

1. Protection against high medical bills

Today, medical insurance has become a necessity as it guards you against massive medical bill debts. Ambulance charges, domiciliary expenses, day-care expenses, hospital expenses, expenses against organ donation, and much more are covered under a good medical insurance plan. Medical insurance protects you against unexpected health issues and its surging medical costs.

2. Tax benefits

One prime benefit of purchasing medical insurance is saving tax. The premium paid on the medical insurance policy can be claimed as a deduction according to Section 80D of the Income Tax Act. Thus, with medical insurance, you can not only protect yourself financially but also save tax.

3. Coverage against life-threatening disease

A life-threatening disease goes beyond hospitalization cost, doctor fees, and ambulance charges. The cost involved in treating a critical disease can erode your savings. A medical insurance policy covers critical ailments like heart attack, diabetes, kidney failures, cancer, and much more.

4. Free health check-ups

Purchasing medical insurance comes with an additional benefit of free health check-ups under certain conditions. This facility is provided every year and can be claimed by every insured individual.

5. Alternative treatments covered

Medical insurance comes in handy as it covers alternative treatments such as Homeopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Ayurveda too. However, the charges are covered only if these treatments are done in a government hospital or any other institute recognized by the government. Treatments in Institution certified under the National Accreditation Board and Quality Council of India are also covered.

6. Medical cashless policy

Health insurance policies are always there to provide the much-needed backup at the time of medical emergencies. The cashless Mediclaim policy remains to be the best type of health insurance policy since it assists in paying medical bills at the crucial time of illness and hospitalization. You don’t need to arrange any cash for paying the medical bills, as the policyholder gets appropriate treatment and enjoys cashless hospitalization. Just like most of the insurance products, the cashless policy comes with a standard tenure of 1-year, which needs to be renewed annually. Many Insurance companies provide a cashless policy with 2-year tenure.

Medical insurance rates

Medical insurance is not very expensive today. Here’s a fair representation of how much medical insurance will cost you according to the age. Premiums for critical diseases are 12-15 percent higher as compared to the regular plans and top-up plans.

Age	Annual premium with regular plans (INR)	Annual premium with an existing plan (top-up plan, INR)
35 to 45	5,000 - 8,000	1,500 - 3,500
45 to 55	7,000 - 13,000	2,500 - 7,500
55 to 65	10,000 - 19,000	5,500 - 12,000
65 +	18,000 - 42,000	9,000 - 25,000