Why should Health Insurance be a part of your Retirement Armory?

Older individuals are more susceptible to chronic diseases and require extensive treatment to recover. After their retirement, meeting such treatment costs becomes quite challenging for them with a limited source of income. Keeping this in mind, investing in a senior citizen health insurance policy should be an integral part of one’s retirement planning.

However, before availing, individuals must be aware of its intricacies and how to choose the most suited option.

Key benefits of Health Insurance Plans for Senior Citizens

As mentioned earlier, after retirement, handling the medical expenses and treatment costs of critical illnesses become difficult for elderly persons. This is mainly because they barely have a proper source of income after that stage of their lives. Considering that, it is essential to avail of a health insurance plan that is dedicated to this group of individuals.

Following is a list of advantages policyholders possessing a senior citizen health insurance plan will be getting:

Cashless claim facility

With such policies, individuals get the convenience of cashless claim features at the network hospitals of that particular insurer. In case of medical emergencies, the family members do not have to arrange funds to finance the hospital expenses. Once the patient is admitted to one of those network hospitals, they will be able to avail of a cashless claim, and the insurer will be covering the entire costs.

Lifetime renewability

Unlike traditional health insurance plans, such policies applicable to senior citizens usually offer a lifetime renewability feature. With this facility, the policyholders can avoid the complications that come with policy renewal at an older age.

Less waiting period

The waiting period is the time limit during which policyholders are not able to claim health insurance benefits. This period is comparatively lesser for health insurance policies for senior citizens than the traditional policies. Since chances of developing critical ailments get increased after a certain age, the scope for urgent medical emergencies also increases with that.

Because of this particular feature, individuals do not have to wait for years to claim the treatment cost.

Tax benefits

The availability of income tax benefits is another major reason why health care insurance policy can be a part of one’s retirement armory. Here is an explanation of the tax deduction available on such policies –

• Individual and parents below 60 years of age: Up to Rs.50,000
• Individuals and family members below 60 but parents above 60: Up toRs.75,000
• Everyone in a family is above 60: Up to Rs.1,00,000

Apart from these, no claim bonus, hospitalization expense cover, and pre-medical screenings are additional advantages that one gets from such policies. However, individuals must keep certain aspects in mind before availing them to make the most of these benefits.

Points to consider before choosing senior citizens’ Health Insurance Policies

Efficacy of Medical Insurance claims

Before investing in such a policy, individuals must check both the claim settlement ratio and the time the insurers generally take to settle the claim. It is advisable to pick an insurer offering high CSR.

Availability of free look period

The free look period is the time during which policyholders have the freedom to have a free look at the insurance plan. With this particular feature, you get to understand its clauses properly and cancel them in case the terms do not match your requirements.

Furthermore, one should also check if an insurance provider has access to a wide network of affiliated hospitals, pre-existing illnesses cover, etc., before availing senior citizens of health insurance policies.