HEALTH & BENEFITS

Medical emergencies can strike anyone anytime, anywhere. No matter how hard you try, you can neither avoid nor predict them. The only thing you can do is stay prepared for them. This is where health Insurance plans or medical Insurance plans come to the rescue
Health Insurance shields you from expenses that may arise out of sickness or surgery. Health Insurance policies can be taken in an individual’s name or for the family. For all kinds of medical Insurance plans, you get tax exemption for the premium amount as defined under section 80D of the Income Tax Act.
The growing number of lifestyle diseases and the rising cost of health care has made it necessary to have health Insurance plans. A majority of India's salaried class has a health cover provided by their employer. However, more often than not, this turns out to be inadequate. Therefore, it is essential to buy a personal health Insurance policy based on your requirements.

A top-up Health Insurance Plan is an add-on plan to your regular health Insurance plan or a Mediclaim from your employer. The top-up plan proposes you an additional cover when you exhaust your basic cover limit. Unlike a traditional health Insurance plan, top-up plans come with a threshold ceiling and cover only single incidence hospitalization. Based on your existing policy limits, you can select the threshold limit at the time of buying a top-up plan. That means a top-up plan will trigger and reimburse your hospitalization expenses arising out of a single ailment over and above the threshold limit. Meeting the threshold limit and single incident of hospitalization are two essential criteria of a top-up plan. Top-up plans work on a cost-sharing basis.

• A Super Top-up works even when you exhaust your threshold limit after combining multiple treatment costs in a year.
• Plus point is, top-up plans with higher deductibles/threshold limits are cheaper.

Health Insurance is designed in a way that they offer daily cash allowance to its policyholders. Here, a predetermined amount is provided to the insured for each day of hospitalization, which can be used by him/her to fulfill other obligations such as x-ray or traveling expenses by the family members to commute to the hospital, surgical tools, etc.

• Pays a lump sum up to sum insured on the covered event's occurrence – hospitalization at least for 24 hours of the insured for an admissible illness. Payment is made as a daily benefit for precisely the number of days the insured was hospitalized (less deductible, typically one day).
• These plans cover only a limited/fixed set of benefits defined in the plan – and easy to understand and implement.
• Daily Hospital Cash plans have waiting periods – both mandatory waiting period of 30 days and other ailments, including pre-existing conditions for 24 months and above
• Hospital Cash is a Fixed Benefit plan and typically does not have a co-pay or deductible. Total sum Insured settled to the insured.
• Complimentary to indemnity-based Health Insurance plan and hence must be bought along with the same.

A personal accident Insurance plan is customized to offer its benefits to an individual only, that is, the insured. The benefits provided by such Insurance plans are broader than group personal accident Insurance plans. They protect the insured against unforeseen mishaps and offer cover against demise or long-term and short-term impairment or injuries.

Features of Individual Personal accident Insurance

• The Accidental Death cover, which offers compensation to the nominee in case of an unforeseen demise or impairment, ensures financial security and stability to the deceased's family in his/her absence
• If the policyholder suffers a permanent disability due to an accident, the Insurance supports financially under the Permanent total disablement cover under the Insurance policy.
• If the policyholder has suffered a partial impairment or injury due to an accident, Permanent Partial Disablement cover under the Insurance offers financial benefit to the policyholder.
• Disablement of a short-term nature may lead to a temporary loss of income, resulting in confinement at home. To stop the loss of income for a short period, treatment of disablement and injuries also further burn a hole in the insured's pocket. A Temporary Total Disablement cover financially protects the treatment and acts as a stable source of temporary income to support the family.