Health is wealth

Some dates hold special importance in our lives. In fact, we mark them in our planner, our office calendar and even on the cellphone. But sometimes, in our busy schedules, we somehow overlook them. And missing your mediclaim renewal deadline can bring more trouble than forgetting your anniversary date or your spouse’s birthday. Here’s why you shouldn’t forget the renewal date of your mediclaim policy. Mediclaim provides cover for expenses in case of hospitalisation. Not only it takes care of costs incurred during hospitalisation but also protects you from pre as well as post-hospitalisation expenses. And if you’ve kept the policy for long, it may serve you even better. For instance, a fresh policy doesn’t cover any pre-existing illness. “Not only that, the insured will lose the no-claim bonus as well. Further, his policy will be treated as fresh policy and the first year exclusions will apply again,” says Mukesh Gupta, director, Wealthcare Securities, a financial advisory firm. This is a very important aspect because if you’ve a mediclaim policy and made no claims on it for four consecutive years, you start getting covered for those pre-existing illnesses. And for every claim-free year, the sum assured will be increased by 5-10% — that too without an increase in premiums. “But most people are unaware of such benefits and that’s why they don’t attach much importance to renewal, little realising that all their hard work may go waste,” observes a senior official from New India Assurance. Thus, if the insured has a health condition existing prior to taking the policy and requiring medical treatment, the same gets automatically excluded in the policy. “To ensure that in subsequent renewals medical conditions incepting since the policy was taken don’t get excluded it becomes a must to renew the policy without any break,” he adds. Renewal of your mediclaim also becomes important since the policy terms have become more stringent. Before April this year, policies covered pre-existing diseases after four claim-free years even if the policy was held with another insurance company. Under the current terms, policyholders need to be covered by the same insurer for at least four years. There are more reasons why you should keep continuing your existing policy. For starters, the premium rates have gone up considerably. Most insurance companies have hiked their premiums by 30% to 50%. “It simply means that not only will you lose out on benefits but also will have to pay a much higher price for being insured,” says Shreeraj Deshpande, head, Health Insurance, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance. The list of diseases that are excluded from the purview of the policy has also been extended. Under the current policy, benign ENT disorders and surgeries such as tonsilectomy, adenoidectomy, mastoidectomy and tympanoplasty come under first-year exclusions. In case you’ve missed the renewal, it will require you to re-do the medical tests. “This leaves no option other than renewing your policy. Otherwise, you’ll start comparing the premium charged by various companies and decide accordingly,” adds Gupta. Apart from this, most medical insurance policies have a moratorium of about six months. This means that any claims made during the first six months of taking a fresh policy will not be reimbursed. So, if you lose out on renewing the old policy, you’ll have to start afresh. An official from National Insurance believes that around 30% of health insurance policies lapse because people forget to renew their policies. “You can’t blame the policy holders only. The insurance companies are partly responsible for that. We’re supposed to send reminders a month in advance but sometimes because of negligence or system flaws it doesn’t happen,” he adds. Most insurance companies, however, give a grace period of seven days, which can be extended to 15 days in case of extreme circumstances, under which a policy can be renewed for keeping it eligible for a no-claim bonus. “We don’t want our customers to suffer, so we make sure that if the fault is on our side, then it should be rectified immediately. If the fault lies with the policy holder, then it can be reviewed on a case-to-case basis,” says the official. So, if you still haven’t marked this important date in your calendar, do it now. For, some dates hold exceptional significance — they not only remind how beautiful life is but they also ensure it remains so as well.
source:Economic Times