With an increase in the healthcare prices in the country, getting a health insurance plan for senior citizens has become essential today. Safeguarding yourself and your family against the uncertain health risks that could create a hole in your pockets is a must now. Health insurance acts as a financial backup during medical emergencies, covers high medical expenses, and ensures the insurer’s best treatment in non-public hospitals.
A good health insurance policy offers extensive coverage for your loved ones at an affordable cost. Several types of plans include family health insurance, individual health insurance, senior citizens health insurance, and others. Selecting a family floater health insurance policy can cover your entire family under a single annual premium. However, buying an individual medical insurance plan is advisable due to the high costs of critical disease treatments.
A health insurance plan that covers the healthcare expenses of older people above 60 years is termed a senior citizens’ health insurance plan. Senior citizens are more prone to critical disorders as they age, so they need a separate medical cover for a stress-free and secure future.
From meeting the rising medical costs to free health check-up facilities or critical illness cover to peace of mind, health insurance plans for senior citizens provide good coverage and can protect them from getting financially exhaust.
Some of the popular health insurance plans available for the senior citizens are:
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HDFC Ergo My Health Suraksha Plan
It is a well-reputed health insurance plan curated exclusively by HDFC Ergo for senior citizens. This budget-friendly and comprehensive plan offers a rebound of the sum insured and other benefits, including free preventive health checkups, cumulative bonus, cashless claims, room rent modification, etc. Pre and post-hospitalization, organ donor, domiciliary hospitalisation, and daycare procedures are some of the expenses covered by the My Health Suraksha Plan.
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Oriental Senior Citizens HOPE Insurance Plan
Known for its high claim settlement ratio and high-quality services, the Oriental Senior Citizens HOPE is an insurance plan designed for senior citizens over 60 years. It comes with a mandatory co-payment of 20%. It provides benefits of domiciliary hospitalisation, cashless service, discount on premium in case of voluntary co-payment, tax benefits on premium, and more. The plan has two years waiting period for pre-existing diseases. It offers coverage of chemotherapy costs, room rents, nursing expenses, surgeon fees, emergency ambulance charges, and prosthetic device costs.
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IFFCO Tokio Individual Medishield Plan
By covering the medical dues of AYUSH treatments, organ donor expenses, hospitalisation, and other expenses, the IFFCO Tokio Individual Medishield Plan has become one of the best insurance providers. It is available for those up to 80 years of age and offers additional coverage for ten critical illnesses. Under this plan, you can also get a discount of up to 10% for the add-on members.
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Kotak Health Care Plan
When it comes to offering extensive coverage, the Kotak Health Care Plan cannot be overlooked. The plan is created for people between 60 and 65 years and provides convalescence benefits and daily cash allowances. It has critical ailments cover option, donor expenses cover, lifetime renewability benefit, etc. The claim amount for the insurance plan ranges from Rs. 2,00,000 to Rs. 10,00,000.
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New India Assurance Senior Citizen Mediclaim Policy
It is a cost-efficient health insurance policy with valuable benefits and coverage. The policy covers pre and post-hospitalization expenses, room rents, ambulance charges, AYUSH treatments, nursing expenses, health checkups, etc. Customers who want to claim the purchased policy should wait for 18 months in case of pre-existing diseases, while 30 days is the time duration for the standard coverage.
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National Insurance Varistha Mediclaim Policy
This is another affordable healthcare plan for the 60-80 age group. It ensures easy claim settlement and offers a free health check-up and cumulative bonus during claim-free years. Domiciliary, critical illness, organ donor, and hospitalisation expenses, including ICU, boarding, nursing, drugs, pacemaker, and others, are covered by the plan. It also provides coverage for pre-existing diseases from the start with the payment of a 10% additional premium.
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Star Health Red Carpet
It is design to fulfil the specific needs of senior citizens aged 65-75 years; the insurance plan is widely recommended in India. It facilitates direct in-house settlement and only covers emergency ambulance charges, domiciliary treatment, in-patient charges, pre and post-hospitalization charges, and treatment at network hospitals. The plan has an initial waiting period of 30 days with no coverage.
The difference between short and long-term family Health Insurance plan
The major difference between a short-term and a long-term health insurance plan is tenor. While standard short-term health insurance covers are renewable each year, long-term health insurance plans are renewable after 2 or 3 years.
From a financial standpoint, short-term health insurance policies often have a larger premium than long-term medical insurance plans, which may come with discounted premium payments. It is because insurees commit to paying premiums for a more extended period in long term policies, which, if not claimed, is a massive benefit to the insurance company.Any health insurance cover for you and your family with a 2 to 3-year tenure can be classified as a long-term best mediclaim policy for family.
A healthcare insurance cover locked for a single year is a standard or regular policy and not a long-term cover. However, many insurance companies can convert regular health insurance covers to long-term health insurance plans on request.
Indians subscribing to a long-term health insurance cover will be able to avoid sudden premium rate revisions. It is not the case in annual healthcare insurance covers, which subjects policyholders to occasional premium rate upward reviews.
To Sum Up
Having a senior citizens’ health insurance plan can save you or your parents from becoming financially and emotionally distressed during a health crisis. So, gifting your parents a complete health plan to safeguard their interests can be one of the most thoughtful things you can do for them. Typically, policyholders cannot make claims until after the mandatory waiting period. Policyholders with pre-existing health conditions can only claim their family health insurance coverage after the waiting period and not before or during this time.
Long-term family medical insurance plans are suitable for all Indians, including kids, teenagers, young adults, adults, middle-aged, and senior citizens.
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