8 Important Reasons to Review Your Medical Insurance Every Year!

Why Health Insurance Review is Important?

You can cope with lifestyle changes

The ever-changing world has made people dependent on technology, and obsession with it may lead to physical inactivity. Factors like stressful work life, unhealthy eating habits, pollution, lack of exercise, and other changes can contribute to lifestyle diseases. It puts you at a higher risk of critical illnesses too. 

In fact, around 60-85% of the world population leads a sedentary lifestyle. A sedentary life increases the risk of the following [2].

• Cardiovascular diseases
• Obesity
• Diabetes 
• Cancer
• Hypertension
• Depression

You can benefit from new products and features

Currently, there are around 30 insurance companies offering health insurance plans in India. The health insurance market in India continues to grow. With the digitalization of the health care industry, new-age insurance companies offer innovative health insurance products to customers. 

With an increase in demand for health insurance, new products and services with extensive features and benefits get rolled out every now and then. Thus, researching and reviewing your health policy every year ensures you don’t miss out on new features and benefits offered by your insurer. It also helps you select new products that meet your health requirements.

You can keep up with rising medical costs

The healthcare industry has progressed with medical and technological advancements. However, these advancements in treatments and services lead to an increase in healthcare expenses. In fact, the medical inflation in India stands at 15% per annum. Some factors that have increased healthcare costs include:

• Cost of medical equipment
• Advanced technologies
• Shortage of experts and specialists
• Medical tourism
• Income disparities
• Pandemic 

Treatments of several diseases have skyrocketed. So, keeping a tab on your health insurance is essential to have an adequate cover and cope with rising medical costs.

You can embrace different phases of life with ease

With each year that passes, you enter a new phase of life. For instance, you may not be married while buying a health policy, and this could change before the time of policy renewal. Similarly, you may be expecting or have a child at the time of renewal. Such events increase your responsibilities and require you to review your policy. You may add your spouse and children to your current policy or buy a family floater health plan. You may also need a higher coverage amount as you age. Apart from these, reviewing your policy is important if you change your job or purchase a new property. 

You will not lose out on no-claim bonus

Health insurance companies offer no-claim bonus (NCB) to policyholders for every claim-free year. You can get discounts on premium rates by not making any claim during the policy tenor. The NCB offered to you depends on your claim-free years and can range from 10 to 100 percent. If you don’t review your health insurance policy every year, you may lose on this benefit or receive less NCB.

You can get better coverage and premium

Due to the huge competition in the health insurance segment, insurers tend to revise their coverage benefits regularly to enhance the customer experience. Ailments and diseases not included earlier are now covered under many health plans. For instance, treatments like cataract surgery and varicose veins are now covered under day-care treatments. So, reviewing your health insurance policy helps you stay informed and benefit from the updates or switch to a better policy.

You get to know if certain medical conditions are covered

Your health insurance provider may not cover certain medical conditions such as diabetes. Review your policy before renewing it to find out which insurer covers the diseases you need protection for or provides an add-on cover for the same. This will help you select a health plan or port your policy to a suitable insurer.

You can manage the waiting period for pre-existing diseases

Health insurance companies apply a waiting period to policies for pre-existing diseases before they cover these medical conditions. This period in most cases ranges from 2 to 4 years. Reviewing your health plan helps you manage the waiting period if you or your family members have such diseases. For instance, your existing policy may have a waiting period of 4 years and you may come across another policy which provides a 2-year waiting period at a lower premium. In such cases, you can benefit by opting for the new plan or switching your policy with a new insurer.

As now you know why reviewing and updating your policy is of utmost importance, check out Aarogya Care Complete Health Solution Plans offered by Bajaj Finserv Health. These plans provide you with modern benefits by covering you from illness to wellness. Their preventive health check feature also help you stay updated on your health. Buy these plans to get a medical cover up to Rs.10 lakh, network discounts up to 10%, and preventive health checkups. What’s more, you get the cover without any medical check-up and enjoy reimbursements on doctor consultations and lab test benefits worth up to Rs. 17,000. Avail a plan within minutes and start enjoying its benefits.