Health insurance policies designed especially for senior citizens offer better coverage and add-ons than most regular health plans, so start your search accordingly. Here is why you should always think twice before adding your parents to your existing health insurance plan.
As more people begin to take their health seriously, they naturally gravitate towards buying health insurance plans. Fortunately, the Indian health insurance market offers various plans to accommodate varied insurance needs. Individual health insurance policies and family floater plans are the market’s two most popular and commonly available plans.
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You can pick whatever policy type matches your requirement. Unmarried individuals with no significant responsibility tend to choose individual health insurance policies, while family people choose family floater plans. People with dependent parents can get inclined toward family health insurance plans too. But what if your requirements change over the years? It has happened with many and can happen with you too.
For example, you may have felt that an individual health insurance plan can be perfect for you, but later, you might feel the need to add your parents to the same coverage. So is adding your parents to your current health insurance plan the wisest option? Not really. Read along to find out why policyholders should think twice before adding their parents to their existing health insurance plan and the best alternative.
Effect on Overall Health Insurance Premium
If you have invested in a family floater plan or are planning to switch from an individual to a family floater plan, adding your parents to the coverage can result in a high premium. Older people are more vulnerable to diseases, illnesses, or other serious health hazards than young people. It is why including them in your current plan can significantly increase your premium amount.
There are better ways to secure your parents than adding them to any existing policy. Having your parents covered under policies offering special coverage benefits for older people or covering more illnesses or diseases is way better than any regular health insurance plan. You should look for health insurance for parents with specialised coverage for senior citizens, and the premium is reasonable.
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Pre-existing Illness Might Increase the Premium
Many senior family members have some existing disease or illness, mild or severe. In such a case, if you choose to add them to your current coverage, be prepared to pay high premiums. It can also affect your overall coverage; the total might become too small to cover every member’s medical requirement.
You can start filtering out policies designed especially to meet the needs of senior citizens. For such cases, it is best to look for separate health insurance plans that cover illnesses or diseases your parents are diagnosed with. Plans with a comparatively lesser waiting period, better coverage, and reasonable premiums should be your choice.
Your Chances of Claiming No-claim Bonus can be reduced
You would know about the no-claim bonus if you already have a health insurance plan. It is a reward insurance companies give to policyholders through discounted premium rates during policy renewal. It can only be availed if you don’t file claim requests for a set of consecutive years. Depending on the insurer, it can be two consecutive years, three years, or more.
When you include senior citizens in the policy, it is doubtful that you will not file claims for two or three years straight. However, there can always be exceptions. Since older people can easily catch a new disease, infection, or illness, they may require immediate medical attention and treatment at the earliest, which will require you filing for claims. Hence, buying a separate health insurance plan is best, so you don’t have to worry about losing the no-claim bonus benefit in your existing policy.
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Existing Coverage Might Become Insufficient
Individuals with a spouse and two children require good coverage to meet future medical costs. If you add your parents to this equation, the existing coverage might become insufficient for all. The coverage can become insignificant if your parents have any pre-existing disease or illness.
If you still want to add your dependent parents to the existing policy coverage, consider buying some relevant add-ons to upgrade your health insurance coverage. Another option is purchasing a new policy to ensure the cover doesn’t fall short at any future date. The market offers various health insurance plans geared towards the requirements of senior citizens, so start investing in one of those.
Corporate Health Insurance Coverage is Not Permanent
Most corporate employees are covered under a group health insurance policy. Although group or corporate health insurance plans generally cover the employee or policyholder and their spouse, they can also cover dependent parents on request or additional payment. The terms and conditions will vary from one company to another, so it is best to get them clarified by HR.
Will it be enough if you get your parents covered under corporate health insurance? The answer is a big no. The biggest flaw with corporate health insurance policies is they’re valid only till you work with the particular organisation.
So if you choose to leave your current company, the insurance benefits will also cease for you and your parents. If you don’t want your parents to get deprived of insurance benefits, make sure you cover them in a separate insurance plan that offers generous coverage and whose validity doesn’t depend on your employment status.
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A Better Option to Consider
Choosing the correct health insurance policy for your family is half the work done. If you have dependent parents, you cannot risk adding them to your existing coverage. Doing so will eventually make the total coverage insignificant for each member. To ensure every family member’s needs are adequately covered, you should always look for separate health insurance plans offering higher coverage. You can choose to keep an individual health insurance plan for yourself and buy another policy to cover your parents.
Health insurance policies designed especially for senior citizens offer better coverage and add-ons than most regular health plans, so start your search accordingly. Maintaining two policies can be challenging, but it will always pay off during emergencies.
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