Different Types of Health Insurance Plans

Last Updated : Feb. 18, 2022, 12:18 p.m.

Health is wealth – it is an old saying and true as well. Nothing more painful than losing your loved ones due to illness/injury just because you could not afford their treatment. So, you need a health insurance policy that provides you money to pay for the hospital bills and other expenses related to the treatment. There are different types of health insurance plans available to meet your medical requirements. Let’s know more about them on the page below.

Types of Health Insurance Plans for You and Your Family

As per the rising healthcare expenses, choosing a health insurance plan from the following based on your requirements would make you feel better financially should you or your dear ones goes through a harrowing run medically –

Individual Health Insurance Plan

An Individual Health Insurance plan is for those who are looking to cover themselves and their spouse, children and parents. Under this type of insurance, your medical expenses for injury & illnesses are covered up to the sum insured. Every member covered under this type of policy will have an Individual Sum Insured. For example, if you buy Individual health insurance of INR 8 Lakh, covering your spouse, two kids and yourself, each person will be covered up to INR 8 Lakh. Thus, it makes the premium comparatively higher. If your age is 18 to 60 years, you can choose to buy this type of plan. The best part of buying this type of policy is that you don’t have to worry about the sum insured as there is a limit for each member.

Family Floater Health Insurance Plan

If you want an affordable health insurance plan for the whole family, you should consider Family Floater Health Insurance. Under this type of Health Insurance, a single sum insured covers all the members. The premium here comes lower than that of an individual health insurance plan. This type of plan can cover yourself, your spouse, children and parents, parents in law, brother, sister, etc. as per the company offering.

Group Health Insurance

A Group Health Insurance Plan is designed for a group of employees working in an organization. This type of policy is purchased by the employer. So, if you’re running a start-up or a corporate house, buy this type of health insurance plan for your employees. By buying the policy, you can boost the rate of employee retention. This type of Health Insurance Plan comes with a low-cost premium, so it won’t affect your business. Some companies also allow sum insured refills in case the same is exhausted. Under this, the company covers the employee for hospitalization due to accident, illness, critical illness, psychiatric problems and maternity. Buying a Group Health Insurance Plan not only offers coverage to your employees but also shows the goodwill of your company.

Note – The employees are covered under the policy as long as they work with the company.

Senior Citizen Health Insurance Plans

As you know with age, health problems increase. So a health insurance plan is dedicated to people aged 60 years and above. This is a Senior Citizen Health Insurance Plan in which you can cover your parents or grandparents. Under this, the insurer will offer coverage for the

• Cost of medicines
• Hospitalization due to accident or illness
• Pre and post-hospitalization
• Domiciliary Hospitalization
• Psychiatric benefits
• And more

Some insurers may ask the insured to undergo a complete body check-up before the policy purchase. They do so to trace the illnesses not known to the insured existing at the time of proposal. The maximum entry age has a limit of 70 years or any limit as specified by the insurer. You can renew the policy for a lifetime once purchased. As senior citizens are more prone to illnesses, these plans can command the premium accordingly.

Maternity Health Insurance Plans

Are you expecting a new member of your family or planning for the same? If yes, consider getting maternity cover. You can buy this insurance either as an add-on to your base policy or as a dedicated plan. All the expenses incurred in the prenatal stage, delivery and post-natal stage will be covered by the insurer when you have maternity health insurance. Newly married couples should consider buying this policy. It covers child delivery including medically necessary terminations, infertility expenses, newborn baby cover, etc.

Note – The maternity cover has a minimum waiting period of one or two years based on your insurer.

Critical Illness Insurance Plan

Are you worried about the occurrence of a serious disease? Keeping this in mind, insurance companies offer you a Critical Illness Plan wherein the company pays a lump sum amount when you’re diagnosed with a listed illness during the policy term, like:

• Cancer
• Stroke
• Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery
• First heart attack
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Aorta Graft Surgery
• Kidney Failure
• Paralysis
• Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

Getting treatment for the above diseases is expensive for you. But under the Critical Illness Health Insurance Plan, as soon as you are diagnosed with the disease, the company will pay you a predefined amount irrespective of the actual cost of the treatment.

So, consider getting a Critical Illness Plan as it keeps your savings unaffected. This type of policy comes with lifetime renewability. There is a survival period that you need to cross to get the policy benefits which is 30 days post-diagnosis of the illness. If you have had a family history of the above-mentioned diseases, it will be wise to purchase this policy. Other than the lump sum amount, this type of health insurance plan will reimburse the cost of hospitalization expenses.

The company provides you with the benefit of complementary health check-ups to make sure there are no signs or symptoms of critical illnesses. And once you file a claim, the Sum Insured is payable in a lump sum. After that, the policy terminates.

Top-Up Health Insurance

You can buy a top-up health insurance plan in case you want higher coverage. But you should know that these plans come with a ‘Deductible Clause’. So, the the company will honour the claim only if it is above a defined limit as mentioned in the policy schedule. Like if you buy a top-up cover for INR 15 Lakh with a deductible of INR 3 Lakh, you need to bear expenses up to INR 3 Lakh. The insurer will pay the amount over and above this limit. So, if you need wider coverage over and above your base plan, you can buy this type of health insurance plan.