Best health insurance for parents

As is well known, elderly people are at a high risk of developing various conditions, such as back pain, neck pain, cataracts, osteoarthritis, dementia, diabetes, and depression. Moreover, the susceptibility of geriatric population to infections is higher than that of the rest of the population because of various factors, including metabolism-related changes and comorbidities accompanied with old age. Because of the high risk of geriatric patients towards numerous conditions, infections, and diseases, investing in health insurance for parents has become a necessity. The best health insurance for parents ensures that your parents’ life savings and retirement funds remain intact in an unwanted and unforeseen medical eventuality.

The aforementioned factors can make you look for a health insurance plan for your parents. A health insurance plan for your parents safeguards you and your parents against any financial burden that could be faced due to a medical condition of your parents. In addition to this, health insurance for parents offers numerous features and benefits that can make your and your parents’ lives easy and let you and your family lead a happy life without any worry. 

• What is health insurance for parents?

A health insurance policy for parents is a plan created specifically for your parents, and this plan covers all of their medical costs as per the terms and conditions of the policy. This policy can cover the expenses resulting from any medical condition caused by old age. A health insurance plan for parents generally provides you with a large sum insured in addition to remunerative benefits, such as annual heath check-ups and cashless treatments. These benefits and the large sum insured allow you and your parents to manage the finances in a worry-free manner. 

In addition to covering for the diseases contracted after getting the policy, a health policy for parents provides coverage for pre-existing conditions. The expenses for pre-existing diseases can be claimed after the completion of the waiting period, which usually ranges between one and four years depending on the plan that you select. You can also choose a plan that provides your parents with the maximum coverage and benefits for the conditions they may be susceptible to. Such conditions can be foreseen through the medical history of your parents. Several factors, such as pre- post-hospitalisation cover, in-patient hospitalisation, policy duration, critical illness cover, and day care procedures, can be considered to choose the best health insurance plan for parents. 

Some of the health insurance policies for parents offer a free premium health check-up package, which can be claimed according to the terms and conditions of the policy or annually. Such free check-up packages help you ensure that the overall health of your parents is monitored on a regular basis. If a disease or condition is diagnosed during one of the regular check-ups, your parents can seek and get the necessary medical treatment and attention at an early stage of the disease or condition. Moreover, with such regular check-ups, your family members and you can remain assured that your parents are in good health and up to date about life quality of your parents. 

• Why is health insurance for parents needed?

As specified earlier, your parents can be at a higher risk of contracting various conditions as well as diseases and more susceptible to infections than you are because of their old age. Moreover, at an old age of 60 years and more, the human body’s capacity to fight off diseases and infections may decrease as the immune system slows down with age.

The best health insurance plan for parents makes sure that your parents receive the optimum medical care available when it is needed. Your parents can get this treatment without being worried about their finances or draining their life savings and retirement funds. As is well known, the amount of premiums for a health insurance policy is high for the age of 60 and more. The best medical insurance for parents can be purchased at a lower amount of premiums than premiums of a mediclaim plan. 

Some of the reasons for which you should buy the best health insurance for parents are given here:

Increments in medical expenses

The costs of healthcare and medical treatments have been increasing a lot lately. For some countries, the healthcare expenditure has increased by trillion dollars in the last decade. India is no exception to this trend of increasing medical costs. Even the prices of over-the-counter medicines and general physician consultation have gone up in India. The best health insurance for parents allows you and your parents to lead a stress-free and happy life by ensuring that the costs of any unforeseen medical eventuality will be covered under the bought policy.

Pre-existing disease cover

After a pre-specified waiting period, the best health insurance plan for parents will cover any pre-existing condition that your parents may have before you purchase the plan. You must check and compare the waiting period of the plan you wish to buy with that of other policies available in the market to ensure that you do not have to stress over finances if a medical event occurs before the waiting period is complete. Moreover, you should also review the conditions covered under pre-existing disease cover by various plans. 

Tax benefits

The premiums paid for a health insurance plan for parents are exempted from tax. If you have health insurance for parents, you can claim tax benefits of up to Rs. 75,000. 

Saving protection

The best health insurance plan for parents will protect and secure not only your finances but also your parents’ savings and retirement funds. This lets your parents lead a happy and worry-free retired life, allowing them to fulfil their dreams and goals.

• What are the inclusions and exclusions under a health insurance plan for parents?

To select the best medical insurance for parents, you must review the inclusions and exclusions provided by a policy. You should aim to buy a plan that offers you maximum inclusions and has few exclusions. 

Here is a list of inclusions provided under most of the best health insurance policies for parents:

• Hospitalisation cost

A minor or major surgery and/or some other medical condition can cause a person to end up being hospitalised. Such a hospitalisation can result in considerable expenses, especially when it is done in last minute without prior planning. The best health insurance policy for parents provides cover for the expenses for such emergencies up to the limit of coverage. 

• Day care procedures

Day care procedures have been recently introduced as a part of medical care and treatments with the advancement in medical sciences. These procedures minimise the time required for few surgical treatments. The best health insurance policy for parents offers coverage for the costs of such day care treatments.

• Mental healthcare

Several aspects, such as the diseases and conditions caused by old age, can lead to or further aggravate the mental well-being of a geriatric person. Health insurance for parents provides cover for the expenses of mental healthcare.

• Home healthcare

In case that your parents’ doctor approves for a treatment to be given at the home to your parents, the best health insurance policy for parents covers the expenses of this treatment. With this benefit, your parents receive the required treatment in the soothing environment of their home.

• Sum insured rebound

With sum insured rebound, the best health insurance plan for parents provides coverage for your parents’ hospitalisation and medical treatment even if the insured sum is exhausted depending on the terms and conditions of the plan.

• Organ donor expenses

If your parents are in need of an organ transplant, they can go for the transplant once a donor is available without worrying about costs. The best health insurance policy for parents will also provide coverage for the expenses of the organ donor.

• Free health check-up on policy renewal

Few of the health insurance policies for parents also offer a free health check-up when you renew the policy for your parents. 

• Renewability for lifetime

Most health insurance policies for your parents come with an option of lifetime renewability.

• Multiplier benefit

Many medical insurance policies for parents provide an increment in the insurance amount of up to 50% when the insurance amount is not claimed in the first year. This increment is made available from the year subsequent to the year in which any claim is not raised.

The following is a list of exclusions under most of the health insurance plans for parents:

• Self-inflicted wounds

Health insurance for parents does not cover the medical costs incurred due to any self-inflicted injury.

• Adventure sport injuries

People go for adventure sports to experience adrenaline rush. A health insurance policy for parents does not cover any medical cost arising from adventure sports.

• Injuries sustained in defense operations

Health insurance for parents does not cover the costs for the treatment of injuries sustained in defense operations.

• War

If an injury is sustained in a war, medical insurance for parents does not cover the cost for the treatment of the injury.

• Sexually transmitted diseases

The treatment expenses of sexually transmitted or venereal diseases are not covered under a few health insurance policies for parents.

Note that basic inclusions and exclusions are specifies here. You must read your policy document carefully to understand and know the inclusions and exclusions specified under your plan.  

• Different health insurance policies for parents available in the market

Here is a list of some companies that provide the best health insurance plans for parents:

• Things to consider before buying health insurance for parents

The overall process of choosing a health insurance plan can be overwhelming, even more so if the plan is for parents. Additionally, the large number of policy choices offered in the market for parents may further cause you to be confused instead of making you sure about any one plan. In such scenarios, you must make yourself aware of the features and benefits you can get from a specific policy. 

To avoid any confusion while choosing a health insurance policy for your parents, the following aspects must be considered. These aspects can help you in policy selection and can reduce the stress that may arise from the huge number of policies available in the market. 

• Sum insured

You should choose a policy that provides the maximum possible coverage to ensure that your parents’ medical requirements are met and that their medical expenses are entirely covered.

• Health insurance coverage

You should take the coverage of a health insurance plan into account before buying the policy. Various policies offer coverage for different combinations of treatments for different diseases. The conditions and treatments can include critical illnesses day and care procedures.

• Co-payment clause

This clause indicates that you must pay a specified amount of the treatment cost from your own pocket. You can opt for a plan with a ‘no co-payment’ clause.

• Pre-existing disease coverage

Before buying a health insurance policy, you should consider and review the options available for a pre-exiting disease or condition, which your parents may have. You can opt for a plan that also offers cover for pre-existing diseases. According to the severity of the disease or condition, you can select a policy that covers the expenses for pre-existing disease after the completion of a waiting period of 1–4 years.

• Tax benefits

Tax deduction can be claimed for any premium that you may pay towards a health insurance policy for your parents. For parents’ age of less than 60 years, a tax benefit of up to 50,000 rupees can be claimed on a yearly basis.  For parents’ age of more than 75 years, a tax benefit of up to 75,000 rupees can be claimed on an annual basis.  

• Sub-limit help

Both the expenses for the treatment and the hospital room can be covered under a health policy. The cost of the room type is taken into account while the room expenses are being covered. Thus, you must go for a plan with no sub-limit on the rent of any hospital room. By considering this, you can choose a hospital room, which is most suitable for your requirements.

• How to select the best health insurance plan for parents?

Nowadays, several health insurance policies for parents are seen in the market. From these policies, you can choose the best health insurance plan for your parents as per their needs and necessities. You must review and compare various policies online to get the plan that meets all your requirements. To choose a plan that caters to all your needs, you should consider these aspects:

• Entry age

Few companies let an individual with an advanced age of greater than 60 years buy their insurance policies. If your parents are older than 60 years, you should consider buying one such policy. 

• Highest coverage

You must review the inclusions as well as the limitations of a policy before you buy it. Because of the high susceptibility of elderly population to numerous conditions and diseases, you must go for a policy that provides coverage for a number of ailments and diseases. Moreover, you can compare the sum insured provided by different companies against different premiums to be paid.

• Waiting period for pre-existing conditions

Few companies provide coverage for the expenses of a pre-existing condition after a one year of buying the policy. This one year is known as the waiting period, and this waiting period varies from insurer to insurer. If your parents have a pre-existing ailment or condition, you can select a policy with the minimum waiting period. 

• Renewal policy

Few health insurance plans for parents offer lifetime renewal under the policy. You can consider this aspect to make sure that any and every medical expense of your parents will be covered for lifetime.

• Flexibility

Different plans offer different flexibilities. You must choose a policy that provides you with the maximum flexibility in terms of various aspects such as coverage, renewal, and the insured sum.

• Network hospitals

To choose the best health insurance policy for parents, you must review the network hospitals that offer medical care under a policy to determine if your parents’ preferred hospital is covered under the policy.

• Claim process

You may consider the procedure to raise a claim under a policy before you buy it. A simple claim process lowers your emotional stress and saves considerable time for you in a strenuous situation. You must make yourself familiar with the process to raise a claim to prevent stress, which may arise from such a process during a difficulty. 

• Premium amount

A premium amount increases with the age of the insured individual. You can opt for a plan that satisfies your needs at a low premium.

• Co-payments

If a policy with the co-payment feature best suits your parents’ needs, you can opt for a plan with a co-payment structure. 

• Claim process

You can experience a lot of stress if one of your parents has to be suddenly hospitalised. In such a scenario, making yourself familiar with the claim process used by your policy can be very helpful. 

Here are some basic steps that give you an idea of the process of claiming health insurance. 

Cashless claim

To get approval for a cashless treatment, follow these steps:

1. Fill a pre-authorisation form at the network hospital.
2. The hospital will then inform your insurer about the cashless claim, and subsequently, the insurer will share a status update with the hospital.
3. Once pre-authorisation approval is received, hospitalise your parent.
4. When your parent gets discharged from the hospital, the company will settle the bills directly with the hospital.

Reimbursement claim

1. For this claim, first, you must pay the expenses of a treatment. You have to retain the original bills of hospitalisation and the treatment. 
2. When your parent gets discharged from the hospital, you must share all the medical bills and documents with your policy provider withing a specified timeline.
3. Then, your policy provider will verify the invoices and documents shared.
4. Finally, your insurance company will transfer the approved claim amount to your bank account.