Five Reasons You Should Buy Health Insurance Now

Health insurance is a type of coverage that takes care of all your medical expenses at the time of hospitalization. Purchasing a health insurance plan should be an integral part of your financial portfolio as it not only insurers your health, but also provides tax benefits. There are various types of health insurance policies you can choose from-individual health insurance, family health insurance, senior citizen health insurance, critical illness insurance, etc. Let’s understand the important reasons why you should buy a health insurance plan now.

1. Changing lifestyle: Living a sedentary lifestyle is one of the prime reasons you should buy a health insurance plan. Hectic work schedule, bad eating habits, rising pollution levels, long commuting, etc. does tend to take a toll on our health, often leading to several health problems such as cholesterol, heart attack, high blood pressure, etc.

2. Rising medical costs: One of the important reasons why you should purchase a health insurance policy is due to rising medical costs. In case of a medical emergency, you would end up paying a chunk of your accumulated finances that you could save, if you have a health plan in place.

3. Health insurance policies give you the benefit of cashless treatment: With a health insurance plan in hand, you can avail cashless treatment at hospitals that fall under the network of your insurer. Availing treatment at a network hospital does require you to pay for the treatment. You are simply required to provide your policy number and everything else is taken care of by the insurance company. If the hospital that you are hospitalized in doesn’t offer you cashless treatment then the amount you pay will be reimbursed later.

4. Pre and post hospitalization: Having a health insurance plan covers all the pre and post hospitalization expenses. The post hospitalization expenses are taken care for a certain number of days after the discharge, provided that the expenditure is related to the health problem.

5. Ambulance fee: Many health insurers today provide coverage for ambulance fee which can be opted for while purchasing the policy. This ambulance fee is covered at the time of taking the insured to the hospital and also when discharging him.

6. No claim bonus: No claim bonus is the amount of discount you are eligible to get when you don’t file a claim in the previous year. The policyholder is either eligible for an increase in sum assured or discount in the premium. With no claim bonus, you can get discount of up to 50% on insurance renewal.

7. Get medical-check ups for free: Insurance companies allow you to get free medical check-ups after a number of claim free years.

8. Tax benefits: Health insurance policy gives you the benefit of enjoying tax benefits as per section 80D of The Income Tax Act, 1981.On buying health insurance for self and family, you can get tax deduction of up to Rs. 25,000 and on buying health insurance for parents aged above 60 years, you can get tax deduction of up to Rs. 50,000.

9. Health insurance portability: You can easily switch your health insurers, without losing out on the NCB discount, waiting period, etc. However, it is important you check if your health insurer provides you with the portability option.