Health insurance is a type of insurance that covers medical expenses that arise due to an illness. These expenses could be related to hospitalisation costs, cost of medicines or doctor consultation fees.
Types of Health Insurance
There are two basic types of health insurance:
- Mediclaim Plans:Mediclaim or hospitalisation plans are the most basic type of health insurance plans. They cover the cost of treatment when you are admitted to the hospital. The payout is made on actual expenses incurred in the hospital by submitting original bills. Most of these plans cover the entire family up to a certain limit.
- Critical Illness Insurance Plans: Critical Illness Insurance Plans cover specific life threatening diseases. These diseases could require prolonged treatment or even change in lifestyle. Unlike hospitalisation plans, the payout is made on Critical Illness cover chosen by the customer and not on actual expenses incurred in the hospital. The cover gives the flexibility to use the monies for changing the lifestyle and medicines. Also it's a substitute for income for the time you could not resume work due to illness. Payout under these plans are made on the diagnosis of the disease for which the original medical bills are not required.
Why do you need Health Insurance now?
No one plans to fall ill or get hurt, but a serious illness can strike anyone at any time. The cost of treating the illness can cause severe financial strain on the savings you have accumulated over time. This means that you might have to compromise on providing your child the best quality education or defaulting on your home loan payments. Today, the cost of medical treatment is continuously rising.
For e.g. Herceptin, a cancer medicine costs approximately ₹1,10,000 for a vial of 440 mg. Depending on the weight, a patient usually requires 17-19 bottles for treatment over a year . That's ₹18 - 20 lakh just for the medicine^. Then add hospitalisation costs, doctor consultation fees, chemotherapy costs, etc. and your overall expenses could exceed ₹25 lakhs. These costs, which are already very high are increasing every year. Most smart people have taken necessary precautions to insure their health as soon as possible. Health insurance is a living benefit, where you would need monies at the time of dire need. One disease can drain out all the savings you have made for your children's education, marriage, for buying a house or even retirement. You would not want your family's dreams to get shattered just because of an illness, especially when you could have protected yourself financially. It is beneficial to take a health insurance policy when you are young and healthy . As you get older, not only does your premium increase, but you also stand a chance of being denied a health cover by the insurance company.
How to choose a good health insurance plan?
Anybody who has a health insurance policy will tell you that buying one is one of the smartest financial decisions by any earning individual. Now that you have decided to buy a health insurance policy, you need to know how to select a good health insurance plan that will take care of all your needs. Here is a list of benefits a good health insurance plan should offer you:
- Protection against a large number of critical illnesses
- Flexibility to choose your health cover
- No increase in premiums during the policy term even if your health condition changes
- Long policy term that covers you even in your old age
- Large hospital network for easy access to medical treatment
Should I buy a Mediclaim plan or a Critical Illness Insurance plan?
A Mediclaim plan will either reimburse all your hospitalisation expenses or settle the hospital bills via a cashless facility. With a Critical Illness Insurance plan, you will receive a lump-sum payout on the detection of a critical illness. You don't have to be hospitalised for the same. If you are unable to work because of the illness, then you can use the amount as a substitute for your monthly income. You can even use the money to cover expenses for doctor visits, medicine purchases, medical tests or any other expense that might arise during this time. That is why you need both – a Mediclaim plan to cover your hospitalisation expenses and a Critical Illness Insurance plan to cover your loss of income and other expenses that arise due to an illness.
ICICI Pru iProtect Smart - Term Insurance Plan
ICICI Pru Heart/Cancer Protect - Health Insurance Plan
FAQs
1. What does health insurance cover?
2. What are the tax benefits of health insurance?
3. Why is health insurance necessary?
COMP/DOC/Jul/2020/137/3977
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Terms & Conditions
* The critical illness benefit is an accelerated benefit and the death benefit will be reduced by the critical illness cover paid to the policyholder. The future premiums payable for the residual CI Benefit will reduce proportionately. In case the CI Benefit equal to the Death Benefit, the policy will terminate on payment of the CI Benefit. Only doctor’s certificate confirming diagnosis needs to be submitted. On payment of Angioplasty, if the CI Benefit is more than ₹5,00,000 the policy will continue for other CIs with CI Benefit reduced by Angioplasty payout. To know more about the illnesses covered, please refer to the Sales brochure. Available under Life and Health and All in One options.
^Tax benefit of ₹54,600 is calculated at highest tax slab rate of 31.2% (including Cess excluding surcharge) on life insurance premium u/s 80C of ₹1,50,000 and health premium u/s 80D of ₹25,000. Tax benefits under the policy are subject to conditions under Section 80C, 80D, 10(10D) and other provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Goods and Services Tax and Cesses, if any, will be charged extra as per prevailing rates.Tax laws are subject to amendments made thereto from time to time. Please consult your tax advisor for details, before acting on above.
+Accidental Death benefit (ADB) is up to ₹2 crores(Subjected to underwriting guidelines). ADB is available in Life Plus and All in One options. In case of death due to an accident Accidental Death Benefit will be paid out in addition to Death Benefit. Accidental Death Benefit will be equal to the policy term or (80-Age at entry), whichever is lower.
*For further details, please refer to the information provided in the product brochure. ICICI Pru iProtect Smart UIN 105N151V06.
1The above mentioned premium rate is for ₹10 Lakh Cancer Cover and ₹10 Lakh Heart Cover for a 30 year old healthy male for a policy term of 5 years. The total single premium amount will be ₹ 6,223. If you choose monthly mode, then the premium amount works out to ₹ 158.
2A discount of 5% on the first year’s premium will be offered on purchase of ICICI Pru Heart / Cancer Protect when life assured and his/ her spouse is covered under the same policy. The policy benefits of both the Lives Assured shall be independent of each other. The Sums Assured of both the lives could be different. A claim made by one Life Assured under the policy does not affect benefits of other Life Assured. This Family benefit has to be chosen at the inception of the policy only, spouse cannot be added once the policy is issued. This discount is not applicable on Single Pay Policy. With one policy, you can avail either Family Benefit or Loyalty Benefit.
3Existing customer discount of 5% on the first years premium is available only for policies with Regular Premium Payment Option, it is not applicable for Single pay policies. With one policy, you can avail either Family Benefit or Loyalty Benefit.
4A lump sum is paid out on diagnosis of any of the listed conditions. This payout is based on the level of the condition. In any case, the total payout in the policy cannot exceed 100% of the Sum Assured of the cover selected. Please refer to the sales brochure to know about the payouts at different level of condition.
5The Company shall waive all future premiums on a claim of Minor condition under the chosen cover; or on the diagnosis of Permanent Disability (PD)of the Life Assured due to an Accident. If both Cancer cover and Heart cover are chosen such waiver is allowed on a minor/major condition claim under either Cancer cover or Heart cover; or on the diagnosis of PD. This benefit is available only if the Policy is in force as on the date of diagnosis of the condition/at the time of accident. In case of Minor Conditions, the total payout will be capped at 100% of the Sum Assured.
6Under the Income Benefit, the Sum Assured has to be chosen at inception of the plan. An amount equal to 1% of the Sum Assured chosen at inception will be paid to the policyholder each month, for a period of 5 years upon a valid claim under any of the listed Major conditions. Where the Cancer cover and Heart cover are taken together, pay out under Income Benefit will be triggered for only that cover for which a claim of Major condition is registered and all Benefits through other cover remains unaffected.
7On diagnosis of Permanent Disability (PD) due to an accident, the future premiums under your policy for all benefits are waived. To know more about definitions, terms & conditions applicable for permanent disability due to accident, kindly refer sales brochure of ICICI Pru iProtect Smart.
8A Life Assured shall be regarded as Terminally Ill only if that Life Assured is diagnosed as suffering from a condition which, in the opinion of two independent medical practitioner’s specializing in treatment of such illness, is highly likely to lead to death within 6 months. The terminal illness must be diagnosed and confirmed by medical practitioner’s registered with the Indian Medical Association and approved by the Company. The Company reserves the right for independent assessment
ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Limited. IRDAI Regn No. 105. CIN: U66010MH2000PLC127837. ADVT No: W/II/0975/2016-17. UIN: 105N151V03