Points to be considered while opting for an appropriate health policy:

• Don’t be too late in buying a health insurance policy:

You have to understand that the health insurance products are highly complex and their premium pricing and features are linked to various parameters. No one can get a product which has everything wished for and there are many investors procrastinating the decision of buying a medical cover. The biggest problem with this approach is that, you might be denied a cover later in life, because you may have crossed the age limit, or you might have caught some illness which will now not be covered.

• Assess all family members you want to cover and their health status:

You must buy health insurance for all your family members for whom you are responsible. At times, people buy health insurance for self, spouse and kids and ignore parents. If you have family members above the age of 50 and/or have a medical history/condition include them in the plan because you might have to pay higher premiums later.

• Assess your lifestyle:

If you and your family is fit, follow a healthy routine or regularly exercising, have healthy food habits, non-smokers, have no history of excessive drinking, you are in a good place and have lower risk which lowers your premium outflow.

• Individual Covers or Family Floater:

Family Floaters seem to be an easy choice as they are very efficient. It works on the principle that not all family members will be hospitalized in the same year. Thus, you get a large cover shared amongst all family members for one of you to claim. The price is lower/efficient than buying individual covers. In case of a family member being older than 50, or has health issues, it would be wise to opt for an individual cover for such a member in addition to the family floater. You shouldn’t have a “high risk” member as part of your family floater because if he/she has frequent claims, year-after-year, other members could be left without any cover, when they would need it.

• Check the Hospital Networks on board with the insurer:

Many insurances companies rope in hospital networks to aid their Cashless facility. The insured is provided with a health card. If he/she or any policy member is admitted in the participating network hospital, one needs to just show the card during the payment and the insurance company will arrange for payments to be made to the medical facility.

• Go for Super-Top-up: Keeping:

Go for Super-Top-up: Keeping inflation in mind it is advisable to buy a top up on the issued policy.

• Ensure you appoint a good adviser:

Unlike Life Insurance, Health Insurance will have repeated claims through your lifetime. It thus, becomes important to have someone who can walk you through the tedious paperwork that otherwise could be a time consuming process. Your Insurance Broker will also aid you through dispute resolutions with Insurers, in the long run.