by Mr. Ritesh Kumar, HDFC Ergo General Insurance
A health insurance taken as top up cover over & above the sum insured under the employer's policy will help in case, the cost of treatment exceeds the amount provided under the employer-provided cover.
Adequately Covered..!
Also, in case, the employer provided covers excludes certain family members, such as parents, then the additional cover should be taken to ensure that all dependent family members are adequately covered.
Sometime there are co-payment clauses or / sub limits on certain expenses such as room rent and ICU bills.
In such cases, hospital cash cover proves to be very useful.
Most importantly, the employer provided covers are valid only for the period of employment, and ceases on the termination of employment.
Standard Health Policies..!
It is observed that the employers typically buy indemnity-based products. This means that the policy pays only for the expenses incurred.
But the health contingency is not limited to meeting the hospitalisation expenses alone. They can also lead to temporary or / total loss of employment and loss of leaves.
In addition, there are a lot of hospitalisation associated expenses that are not covered by standard health policies. To cover the additional expenses, it makes sense to take additional hospital cash policy.
Daily Cash Benefits..!
These policies provide defined daily cash benefits based on the number of days of hospitalisation.
This can also provide the cash benefit in lieu of the leaves taken on account of hospitalisation. However, the loss of employment can be a matter of serious concern & should be handled appropriately.
Daily Cash Benefits..!
In case, the ailment impacts employability, the traditional health cover may not provide any benefit to make up for the loss of employment. Critical illness policies are specifically designed to take care of such contingencies.
These policies are benefit policies & the sum assured is paid as a lumpsum benefit. Once the claim is paid, the policy ceases to exist.
A critical illness cover can be taken as a stand alone policy or / as a rider with a hospitalisation policy.
Keep a close eye on details such as coverage, exclusions, waiting period for pre-existing disease, sub limits on various expense heads when a purchasing a health insurance.
About the author..
Mr. Ritesh Kumar is CEO and MD at HDFC Ergo General Insurance
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