With dramatic improvements in medical science and improving sanitary conditions, life expectancy in India has been increasing over the last few years. As per World Health Organisation (WHO) data, the life expectancy in India as of 2019 is 70.8 years, an improvement of 8.68 years from 2000. While the cure to many diseases is being discovered and people are better informed overall today regarding healthy living, the unpleasant truth is that there are an increasing number of diseases affecting you today. This situation, coupled with India’s high medical inflation rate of 14 per cent in 2022-23, which is much higher than the global average of 10.7 per cent for the same period, has made health insurance and, in particular, health insurance plans for the family an indispensable product in your basket of financial products.
As a person who has a family and is earning, you may wonder what is the right time to buy an optimal policy providing health insurance for family. The simple answer to your question is NOW!
Why Should You Buy a Health Insurance Policy Now?
You may be thinking that an ideal time for you to buy optimal health insurance is just after you get married, so you can add your spouse to the policy with an add-on maternity benefit and cover your parents, too. This is good thinking, but consider the following factors:
- Life is Full of Surprises (Mostly Unpleasant): While you may be healthy and not require a planned hospitalisation today, accidents may be just round the corner and have no corelation to anyone’s age. Covid-19 has shown us how our best laid plans may get thrown off track. There are different types of health insurance policies and a good plan will help you tide over any such eventualities.
Pro Tip: A good health insurance policy will offer by coverage for things beyond hospitalisation expenses – reimbursement for pre and post-hospitalisation expenses, day care expenses, OPD cover, critical illness cover, cashless facilities, bonuses on account of no claims as well as on renewal, automatic restoration of sum insured, ambulance expenses, etc.
- Buying Early is Beneficial: Purchasing your health insurance policy early means you get the coverage at lower premiums. More importantly, when you are younger you are less likely to be suffering from any pre-existing diseases. Even the best health insurance policy in India comes with a mandatory waiting period for such diseases, which you may cover without any risk when you are younger.
- High Rate of Medical Inflation in India: You have read of the scarily high rate of medical inflation in India. Buying your comprehensive health insurance policy at an early age, at lower premium levels and better coverage will ensure that you are in a position to get yourself treated in the best of facilities if you need hospitalisation.
- Cover for Lifestyle Diseases: You are undoubtedly fitter today than you will be tomorrow. Rapid urbanisation, rising pollution levels, and low air quality in India contribute to the rise of lifestyle diseases. Add to this today’s sedentary lifestyle, unhealthy diet, high-stress levels and bad habits like smoking and excessive consumption of alcohol, and you have a recipe for a disaster waiting to happen. Treatment of these lifestyle diseases is sustained and expensive. A comprehensive health insurance policy with good health protection plans will help you manage the situation.
- Tax Benefits: You may avail of tax benefits upto Rs 1 lac under the old tax regime under Section 80D of The Income Tax Act, 1961. The amount of tax deduction is subject to the family members you are including in your policy and their age.
Conclusion
As you see, there is no better time than right now to purchase your family health insurance policy. You may even purchase a family floater policy providing basic coverage and enhancing your overall sum insured by additionally purchasing a top-up or a super top-up policy. A smart move is to supplement your health insurance coverage with health protection plans.
References
- https://data.who.int/countries/356
- https://www.livemint.com/money/personal-finance/medical-inflation-in-india-reaches-alarming-rate-of-14-reveals-report-11700634947658.html#:~:text=India%20has%20one%20of%20the,the%20health%20of%20India’s%20workforce
- https://www.wtwco.com/en-za/insights/2023/11/2024-global-medical-trends-survey#:~:text=After%20surging%20from%207.4%25%20in,are%20contributing%20to%20this%20declin
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