Points To Keep In Mind While Buying Health Insurance For Parents

Summary: As our parents age their well-being and health becomes our responsibility. To ensure that they get adequate support and utmost care if a health crisis or a hospitalisation happens during their anytime in their life, having a health insurance plan for parents becomes crucial. However, our parent's needs are different from ours and this is why choosing the right health insurance plan for them can become a bit overwhelming. This article will help you to navigate through the various options available and help you choose the right plan for your parents.  

Intro: One of the most painful phases of growing up is to see your parents grow old, lose their strength and sometimes become weak as age progresses. These are the years when they need us the most. Even if you cannot stay at their side all the time to take care of their needs. It becomes your prime responsibility to ensure they are taken care of well. Ensuring they stay safe, secure and healthy is a highly privileged duty. One of the many ways in which you can do this is by investing in a health insurance policy for parents. This will ensure that your parent's healthcare needs are taken care of in the most special way without their savings or yours being spent for their treatment if they need one at all.  

With age, health becomes of paramount importance. As immunity dips and their systems start to slow down after years of wear and tear, they become vulnerable to various illnesses and diseases. This could lead to frequent hospitalisation or prolonged medical care. In either case, ensuring that you have enough savings to help them wade through the crisis becomes crucial. However, with the rising healthcare expenses, your savings and also that of your parents can be wiped out within days in case of hospitalisation while covering the medical expenses. So, it is wise to have a health insurance plan in place to take care of your parent’s needs.  

Here are a few important things to keep in mind while choosing a health insurance plan for your parents:  

Adequate Coverage For The Sum Insured: your parent's health insurance policy should be comprehensive for the sum insured you have chosen. Look for coverage that caters to your parent's needs like – coverage for pre-existing diseases, mental health coverage, preventive healthcare incentives, lesser waiting periods, home healthcare services and other benefits that you think might be necessary for your parents.  

Choose A Higher Sum Insured: Since you will be looking for specific and wider benefits for your parents, you should also keep in mind that your parent’s cover should have a higher sum insured.  This is to ensure there is no dearth of funds for quality medical care at a trusted medical facility when a need arises. It also indicates that you might have to pay a higher premium for your parent’s health insurance policy, but don’t compromise on the sum insured. A lower sum insured can in turn lead to additional out-of-pocket expenses during an emergency or planned surgery.   

Entry Age For The Policy: different health insurance plans have different entry ages for the members insured. If your parents are below 60 years of age, you can buy a standard health insurance policy for them. However, if they are over 60 years old, you can buy senior citizen health insurance for them. These plans are also customisable making sure that your parent’s needs are included in the plan without much of a hassle.  

Check On The Flexibility Of The Plan: As your parents advance in age, their needs might keep changing and you may be required to upgrade the insurance coverage for them. So, look for a policy that allows customisation and is flexible to accommodate the changing insurance needs of your parents.

Check On The Waiting Period : Most health insurance plans come with a waiting period, the same might be true for health insurance for parents. During this waiting period, you cannot place a claim for any pre-existing disease that your parents might have. Check on this period carefully to avoid rejection of a claim in future. You can also look for a plan that has a shorter waiting period to reduce the risk of losing the coverage benefit if a situation arises.  

List of Network Hospitals: With old and ageing parents it is wise to look for an insurance provider who can boast of a wider network of hospitals which includes the reputed names in the fraternity. In the time of crisis, you will need quick, quality, and cashless medical treatment for your parents. Check the list of network hospitals from the insurer to ensure there are sufficient reputed hospitals in your parents’ vicinity where they can get medical treatment without any hassle.  

Research About The Claim Settlement Ratio: The claim settlement ratio is calculated as the number of claims settled by an insurer during a financial year as compared to the number of claims filed. A high claim settlement ratio indicates that the insurer is trustworthy and your chances of getting your claim settled are high. Since the probability of parents being hospitalised is high it is better to run a check on the claim settlement ratio of the insurance partner you are choosing for your parents as you might end up placing a claim for them often.  

Ensure Value-Added Services And Adequate Riders: Make sure that the plan you choose offers value-added services like – tele-consultation, E-opinions, preventive health check-ups, or let you add riders or add-ons to increase the coverage scope of the policy and ensure your parents get sufficient coverage and the best medical care they need.

Check for Renewability: Make sure that you check on the renewability policy of the plan. Most insurers have an age capping for a plan. But while choosing a plan for your parents make sure that you select one that provides coverage well into the senior years without hiking the premiums much and provides lifelong renewability to ensure your parents stay secured well into their golden years.  

The Take Home Message  
To ensure that your parents lead a secure and healthy life, getting a health insurance plan for your parents is necessary. Before you decide to buy one, do a thorough study of the various plans available to make sure you are picking the best one for your favourite people. Make sure you invest in a higher sum insured for wider coverage and look for the additional benefits that come with them. The more benefits the merrier the plan.  

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