Rajiv Aggarwal, 32, underwent minor surgery and was hospitalised for three days. When he was being discharged and completing formalities, Aggarwal was staring at a huge hospitalisation bill. With no other option, he had to pay the bill from his savings which derailed his financial planning. That very moment he understood the relevance of health insurance.
Like Aggarwal, many people tend to take health insurance lightly and end up losing all their savings. They underestimate medical costs and wait till something happens to them.
But, one should take health insurance seriously. Due to sedentary lifestyle, health concerns are on the rise.
Moreover, according to a recent study conducted in 2019, there has been a rise in lifestyle diseases since last year among people below the age of 45. As compared to 2018, the percentage of cholesterol among Indians increased to 14.1% from 10.1%.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported that India had the highest number of diabetics at 50.8 million till 2018 and the number was estimated to touch 73.5 million by 2025.
So, life is uncertain and medical emergencies can happen anytime, draining you out physically and financially. Here, you can take charge of the financial part well in advance by taking a health insurance policy.
Health insurance has become important than ever before as it safeguards you from hospitalisation, medicine and ambulance costs and even the doctor’s fee. Since the rising medical costs and inflation can burn a hole in your pocket, if you are insured, a health insurance policy can pay for your treatment and offer benefits such as cashless hospitalisation, pre and post hospitalisation expenses and more.
It is better to buy a health insurance when you are young as the health insurance premium is much lesser for a large cover amount when you are in 20s. For instance, at the age of 25, you can have a cover of Rs 3 lakh at a premium of just Rs 5,546. With increasing age, you will end up paying more premium for a greater sum insured.
So, how much health insurance to buy?
Before buying a policy and calculating the sum insured, you should factor in age, rising medical costs, inflation, current health status, nature of job, hereditary diseases, etc., and also the number of dependents. You can calculate the sum insured and premium amount through a health insurance calculator also.
Apart from coverage, health insurance also helps in savings taxes under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act, 1961.
While buying a health insurance policy, always choose a reputed partner such as Reliance Health Insurance so that you don’t have to go through any hassles while claim settlement and other benefits that come along with health policies. You can even use the Reliance Selfie App for simplifying your insurance claims & policy renewal process. Reliance Selfi App also provides you with real-time claim status and helps you in finding the nearby hospitals and branches. This app not only makes your renewal and claim process easy but also enables you to track your steps and maintain a healthy life with its integrated pedometer.
A health insurance comes with various advantages and the best investment you can ever make for yourself and family.
This is a partnered post
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