6 Reasons Why Health Insurance is Important

Do you have health insurance? Do you think the health insurance provided by your employer is adequate?

There is a popular saying that 'health is wealth'. In the modern context, deteriorating health has the potential to wipe out all your wealth in a fraction of a second.

In the current scenario, health insurance has become the need of the hour. An adequate health insurance plan is essential as it insures the health of you and your family members.

In this article, we will explain health insurance and its importance.

Meaning of Health Insurance

When you take a health insurance, the insurance companies take the financial responsibility of your and your family member's health. So, if you are hospitalised, the insurance companies will take care of the hospitalisation and other fees.

There are two key ways to claim your insurance proceeds. If you are hospitalised in the non-network hospitals, you can provide the receipts to get your claims. Here, you pay for the hospital bills upfront.

However, if you seek treatment in a network hospital, you can enjoy cashless hospitalisation. This means you don't have to pay any money. A good deal of insurance companies have tie-ups with hospitals and treatment facilities.

Health insurance is a must for everyone. Individuals under 45 years of age can take insurance policies undergoing no health check-up. The premium that needs to be paid increases with age.

Importance of Health Insurance

It takes care of your medical expenses

Healthcare costs are expensive and it is likely to skyrocket in the near future. Government's inflation data have shown that health care inflation is almost double the rate of overall inflation. The average retail healthcare inflation in India was 7.14% in the financial year 2018-19.

With the ever-increasing cost of health care, without insurance, a single day in the hospital may wipe out several months savings. In this urgent scenario, with no health insurance, you may have to withdraw money from other investment options such as equity mutual funds. As a result, there may be a delay in reaching your financial goals.

Health insurance makes sure that your savings and financial goals remain intact. Insurance takes care of hospitalisation expenses and medicine costs. Few insurance plans also cover the cost of pre-hospitalisation and post-hospitalisation expenses such as ambulance costs, check-up fees and medicine costs.

Avail Cashless Health Insurance

As mentioned above, many insurers have tie-ups with hospitals to offer cashless treatment to their customers. Hence, customers can avail the treatment paying no cash. This means you don't have to pay any money for the treatment and focus on the well-being of your loved ones.

Entire family protection

Health insurance should cover all your family members under health insurance. However, taking individual health cover for all your family members can be expensive. Family floater plan that covers the health-related costs of the entire family is an affordable option.

Covers lifestyle-related diseases

There is no denying the fact that several lifestyle-related diseases have sprung up because of your sedentary lifestyle. Diabetes, high blood pressure and cardiac problems are some lifestyle-related diseases. It can lead to other severe health problems.

Health insurance plans cover these lifestyles-related diseases. While it is necessary to be physically active to keep these diseases at bay, with health insurance you don't have to worry about the costs raising due to these issues.

Avail Tax benefits

Besides helping to cover the healthcare-related costs, you can also save tax on the premium paid on health insurance. You can save tax up to Rs.25,000 under section 80D of the Income Tax Act in a financial year. The premium paid for you and your spouse and dependent children is considered for tax exemptions.

Conclusion:

Whether you want to protect yourself from the costs arising from coronavirus or lifestyle diseases treatment, health insurance policies cover a lot of such diseases. Cashless hospitalisation makes it easy for customers to avail cashless treatment.

Health insurance policies come with a lot of terms and conditions. Hence, it is advisable to sit with your financial advisor to figure out the best health insurance plan for you.