Online insurance policies offer better value for money
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I have heard of “room rent restriction”, a term used in mediclaim parlance. Could you tell me of more such technical terms used by insurance companies? I intend to buy Apollo Munich’s family mediclaim policy of Rs 3 lakh. How would you rate this policy?
Ricky Singh
New Delhi
Certain important things to be aware of while buying a health insurance policy are renewability (lifetime recommended), co-pay (some percentage of claim amount to be borne by the policyholder), sub-limits (specific maximum limits on some diseases like cataract and knee replacement).
Apart from the above, the room rent sub-limits will significantly affect your overall claim reimbursement.
Some plans have a ceiling on room rent charges expressed as percentage of the sum assured and is normally 1 per cent of the latter, subject to maximum of Rs 5,000 per day.
In case you stay in a room that costs higher than this room rent limit, your entitlement for all other expenses will also be reduced on the basis of what you would have incurred had you stayed in a room that was within your room rent eligibility.
This can reduce your claim amount substantially.Apollo Munich Easy Health is a good policy as it is renewable for life.
There are no co-payments and no separate sub-limits for room rent. For your family, an individual health policy would be beneficial rather than a floater policy for a sum assured of Rs 3 lakh each. The only thing to be considered here is that cover for the insured person will cease if he becomes an NRI in any of the policy years.
I had availed of an Aviva term plan last year through the offline mode. I now want to switch to the online plan as the insurance cover would multiply three-fold. The insurer, however does not offer any such policy in my city. Does LIC also have an online term policy? What other options do I have?
Inder Lamba Rohtak
You have taken the right decision to shift from offline to online plan as you can get the same cover at lower costs or much higher cover at the same premium.
You can buy HDFC Life Click2Protect — Online Term Plan from HDFC Life which is available in your city.
LIC does not have any online term plan yet.
In order to ensure that there is no difficulty in the eventuality of a claim, it is advisable to disclose all the facts including existing insurance plans, your medical history and your family’s medical history while applying for new insurance plans.
Make sure that you get the new policy in hand before you let the old policy to lapse.
Harsh Roongta is the CEO of Apnapaisa.com. You can send in your queries to moving
money@deccanmail.com
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