Today, customers have started viewing health insurance as not just a mere financial shield but an essential protection that saves us from draining our savings in our times of need. Based on the rising Covid 19 infections, hefty medical bills and hospitalization expenses have become highly plausible.
In times like these, if the renewal date of your health insurance policy is approaching, you must renew it without any further delay. Insurers usually send reminder notifications to policyholders before its due date. However, it is also advisable to be vigilant about the policy renewal date on your end.
Health insurance renewals vary depending on the type of policy. For example, the renewal of a single-year policy happens annually, while that of a multi-year policy happens after 2-3 years. Timely renewal helps secure all benefits and rules out the possibility of a No Claim Bonus or a No Fresh Waiting Period. On the other hand, not renewing a policy timely may cause it to lapse, which might result in the need to buy a new one. In the new policy, you will have to undergo a fresh waiting period as its continuity will be lost. Below is a list of points to remember while renewing health insurance.
Reconsidering The Sum Insured
Among the top priorities of policyholders that are renewing their insurance lies the assessment of the sum insured. In these times of the pandemic, medical costs are escalating as high as ₹ 15 lacs. An individual metro-dweller must have a minimum sum insured of at least ₹10 lacs. As per figures reported by PolicyBazaar, 35% of customers upped their coverage & invested in a high sum-insured cover (₹1 Cr health insurance) for adequate protection during the renewal of their policy.
Wellness Benefits
Nowadays, insurers have begun offering lucrative discounts of 80-100% on the renewal amount. Apart from this, they are also offering a chunk of other rewards and benefits. Since prevention is better than cure, taking care of our health is the best insurance one can get. Hence, the focus of a lot of insurers has shifted to preventive health care rather than curative health care. With the advent of health gadgets in India, the insurance industry is leveraging them to provide rewards and benefits to health-conscious policyholders. Simultaneously, many insurers are keeping track of the health activities of policyholders through wearables.
Consumables Cover
Consumables have become a crucial part of the Covid-19 treatment expenses. It includes the high costs of PPE kits as well. Be sure to check if your health insurance covers consumables while renewing your policy. If your policy does not cover consumables, you have the option to buy add-ons at the time of renewal for coverage of consumables. Earlier, consumables used to take up around 3%-5% of the hospital bills, however since the outbreak of the pandemic, these figures have jumped up to a massive 25%-30%.
Grace Period
All health insurance policies come with a grace period. The grace period is the 30-day time that the policyholders get to renew their policy before its expiry date. A downside of renewing a health insurance policy during the grace period is that if the policyholder faces a health emergency and needs hospitalization, those medical expenses are not covered by the insurer. Hence, policyholders should renew health insurance before its due date.
Family Inclusion
During policy renewal, there is an option to add more family members to the policy. Policyholders may want to add their parents or children under the health insurance umbrella. Additionally, they get tax benefits by adding them. All you need to do is inform your advisor about it, and your insurer will take care of the rest.
Maintain Transparency
Often healthy policyholders buy health insurance and are later affected by chronic disease. Examples of such diseases are diabetes or hypertension. If a policyholder develops an illness of this sort before the renewal of the policy, they must inform the insurer about it at the time of renewal. There won’t be any waiting period but it’s good to inform the insurance company because in case there is a claim, later on, they would investigate it. Moreover, if the policyholder wants to port their policy to another insurer in the future, then this illness will be covered from scratch itself and won’t attract a fresh waiting period.
Premium Discounts
Instead of opting for a single-year policy, it is more profitable to buy a two-year or a three-year policy. By doing so, you will get a discount on your premium that varies between 7.5-15% across insurers.
