by Ankit Agarwal
December 05, 2017
by Ankit Agarwal
December 05, 2017
No one wants to think about an illness or accident and least of all plan for it, but these contingencies of life cannot be ignored. You may not be able to avoid a sudden illness/ accident, but the amount you end up spending on medical care and their impact on your savings can be minimized. Also, you can protect your spouse from the economic concerns such as loss of income and medicinal expenditure that unexpected accidents lead to. How? Through an adequate health insurance cover and/or a personal accident cover.
In an analysis done on health by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), 2014, compared to the past decade, the cost of treatment in India has grown at double-digit numbers, outstripping inflation rate. This simply means that if your salary hike is to the tune of the inflation, the growth in medical expenses will soon outrun it. A serious health condition or a sudden accident resulting in disabilities can leave behind a huge financial burden, which might take years for you/ your family to surmount. This is where health insurance or personal accident insurance can be a savior.
How do health insurance or personal accident insurance plan help me?
Simply put, if you have an adequate cover, then in case of an eventuality you will not have to dish out huge amounts of money to cover the medical expenses. The costs will be borne by the insurer. A health insurance, after all, is an agreement between you and your insurer, to bear your hospitalization and all associated medical expenses, as per the terms and conditions you've both agreed upon. You can avail all this at the cost of an annual premium that you pay to the insurance company.
Similar to the fact that you can't predict when an illness hits you, you may be unfortunate to suffer an accident while traveling on road, rail, and ship or in aircrafts or have a serious collision, fall, or injuries from drowning or burns. A personal accident insurance provides cover against accidental death and permanent/partial disability caused due to an accident. This not only protects you but also is beneficial to the nominee you have nominated, who will feel the economic repercussions of your disability due to an accident lesser since the policy will provide them the cover.
Insurance companies offer plans from a sum insured of Rs. 5000 for micro-insurance policies to a higher sum insured of Rs. 50 lakhs and above. The common health insurance policies are usually available from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 5 lakh.
There are numerous insurance policy providers in the market that can offer you feasible policies. But it's important to recognize that each policy has a different premium, covers different aspects, and are regulated by different policy pointers. Selecting a suitable plan to protect you and everyone in your family can require some research and study. Some crucial factors to be taken into consideration are:
In most health insurance schemes, the standard pointers that are covered are:
When it comes to personal accident policies, there is a slight variation. These are:
A policy bought to cover expenses arising out of illness or accident help you by providing you the benefit of:
The best news about buying a health insurance or a personal accident policy is that you can provide a cover not only for yourself but also for your family. You can opt to go in for:
It is therefore suggested that we study our options to choose a comprehensive health and personal accident cover that can provide compensation to us or our dependents in case of an emergency. After all, we can hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst!
This article was written by Ankit Agarwal from Getting Money Wise and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@newscred.com.