Having a valid health insurance policy is extremely important. It ensures you are protected from the financial impact of medical emergencies and allows you to get the best treatment possible, without worrying about the cost.
However, health insurance usually provides annual coverage and you need to renew your plan every year to enjoy uninterrupted protection. While renewing your health insurance plan is fairly simple, the following article will highlight 5 easy tips that you can use to streamline & optimize process.
1. Renew health insurance online.
Many people prefer to visit the branch of their health insurance provider to renew their plan. While there is nothing wrong with this, you should know that this is not the most efficient way to renew your health insurance policy.
Instead, you could opt to renew health insurance online – it is quicker, more convenient and certainly much easier! You do not have to brave the elements, you are not restricted to office hours and the entire process will take just a few minutes!
You just have to visit you insurance company’s website, find the ‘renew online’ option and click on it. You will be redirected to another page where you will have to enter your policy number. After this, you will be intimated with the renewal amount, you can confirm, make the payment and that’s it! The renewed policy document will be emailed to you instantly!
2. Reassess your needs & coverage.
The only constant is change – this is something that applies to your coverage needs as well. And the renewal of your health insurance policy is the perfect opportunity to take stock of your requirements and rehash to health insurance coverage to match your needs.
For instance, if you’ve found your soul mate and have decided to tie the knot, it makes sense to include maternity cover your medical insurance policy. This will ensure that, when the time comes to bring that bundle of joy into the world, the last thing you have to worry about is money.
3. Consider other options.
There is nothing wrong with staying with a single health insurance plan throughout your life. However, if there are other alternatives, offering better coverage at lower costs, then it makes sense to switch plans.
You could also make a switch if you are not satisfied with your current insurance plan or if you find other plans offering easier processes such as online claim settlements & app-based services.
4. Increase the sum assured.
The rate of healthcare inflation in May 2019 was 8.01, which is almost 3 times the average retail inflation, which stood at 3.05. Therefore, a sum assured that seemed enough a year ago, could fall short in the future.
To keep your plan current with the times, it is a good practice to increase your sum assured when renewing your plan. Alternately, some plans have medical inflation add-ons that you can buy that will increase the coverage of your plan by a certain % every year.
5. Renew the plan well before expiry date.
Most people assume that there is a grace period of 30 days before the policy lapses. However, one needs to remember that there is no coverage during this period. Therefore, if a medical emergency comes knocking, you will be uninsured.
Also, you could risk losing out on your NCBs, your waiting period credits & you may also miss out on tax benefits. Therefore, to avoid all of this, it makes sense to renew the plan well before the policy expires.
We hope these tips will be helpful for you, good luck and take care!