Everyone is understandably concerned about the cost of health insurance premiums. Regardless of the reasons, it is a good idea to examine your health insurance plan on a regular basis to ensure that it still fulfils your needs and whether it is the most suitable one available in the market for you.
Porting of insurance should ensure that the past behaviour of a current health insurance plan is carried forward to the new plan. The primary advantage of a lengthy history with an insurer is the elimination of waiting times in the policy. However, when porting, the new insurer must forego the waiting periods as well. So moving to a better plan should not result in a loss of history for you. The insurance regulator IRDAI has established guidelines for health insurance transfer to guarantee that consumers do not lose any accrued renewal advantages if they transfer to a different health insurance firm. However, it should be noted that you can port your policy only at the time of renewal of the older policy.
If the new insurance plan is more costly than the previous one, you should assess the costs and advantages. The stipulations regarding room rent and co-payment may result in a significant discount in the claim. If the higher premium allows for more benefits, it may be beneficial to explore the new plan. For example, a 20% co-pay results in a 20% reduction from the claim sum. That implies you are only insured for 80% of your medical bills. In this instance, if the new insurance plan’s premium increase is up to 20% from the older one, then it is reasonable. In a similar way, room rent limitation might result in a substantial reduction in premium. However, most hospitals increase the total cost of the medical package when the room type changes. When a patient chooses a room that is higher than their permitted category, the insurer takes out the entire claim based on room rent eligibility criteria. So, an insurance plan with no room rent cap is preferable.
If you choose a deductible, you will be obligated to pay a portion of your healthcare cost out of your own pocket. The policyholder can set the deductible amount as high or low as they choose. For example, if you choose a deductible of Rs. 1 lakh and your hospital bill is Rs. 5 lakh, the insurance company will pay Rs. 4 lakh while you must pay Rs.1 lakh. This varies from a co-pay, in which the out-of-pocket payment rises in tandem with the hospital bill. When you choose a deductible, you limit your exposure to a specific amount, which may be considered a better method to manage your cost of premiums. You may also choose a cumulative deductible rather than a per-claim basis deductible, which means you won’t have to pay for each claim individually.
