Child Health Insurance Plans - All You Need to Know
With the spread of various lifestyle ailments and the increasing cost of medical facilities, it has become essential for everyone to procure a health insurance policy. A health insurance will protect you and your family members from any financial emergency, which can occur if there happens to be a medical emergency in the family.
A health insurance policy is an agreement by which an insurance provider will help in providing coverage for the medical expenses incurred in case of a health issue or an accident of the insured person. By purchasing a health insurance policy, you will have to no more worry about the hefty bills incurred during your treatment or think about compromising on the quality of treatment availed due to financial factors
In a family, the most loved and dear ones are the kids of the family. Every person in the family tries to protect the kids or children from all types of problems. But, what happens when a child in a family falls ill? In such a scenario, it is a situation of emotional turmoil for the family members, especially the parents. As a parent, you will never want any financial problem to creep into your lives because of the treatment of your child or any compromise with the medical care provided to your child due to finances. So, the best solution to this problem is to purchase a health insurance plan for your children.
Today, health insurance providers are providing numerous plans related to the health insurance of children. These health insurance plans cover almost every stage of the growth of children and also provide coverage for major illnesses, and many include annual check-ups within their plans as well.
So, let us discuss the health insurance plans which provide coverage for children.
Individual Child Health Plans
Individual Child Health Plans are those plans which provide coverage to minor children individually in case if either of the parents is covered under the same plan on an individual basis. Individual child health plans offer coverage for cashless hospitalization, ambulance charges, check-ups, specialist consultation, etc. However, this type of plan is not popular in India.
Family Floater Health Plans
Family health Insurance plans will provide coverage for the principal policyholder, his spouse, and dependent children up to a maximum of 4 children. In simple terms, these health plans are general family health insurance plans, otherwise known as Comprehensive health insurance plans.
Thus, children can be covered in a health plan in India under the family floater option if either or both parents are covered in the same plan.
Features to keep in mind for health insurance plans covering children
Family floater health plans are the best way to have convenient and hassle-free financial planning. You can easily keep track of the sum assured, the coverage and any claims made. Moreover, there are special discounts associated with the family health insurance plans which can be beneficial in the long run. You can choose for add-on covers to be included in the health insurance plan to ensure complete protection of your family.
1. New Born Coverage:
One of the significant features related to children's health insurance plans is the provision of health insurance plans for newborn babies. Newborn babies are very vulnerable to infections as they have a healthy environment within the mother’s womb. Sudden changes in environmental conditions make them susceptible to diseases like jaundice and other skin diseases. So, there must be proper health insurance plans for your newborn baby. Family floater plans will include maternity coverage and insurance coverage for your newborn baby as an inbuilt feature.
Expert Tip: These plans will provide coverage to your newborn baby from the day of birth until a period of 90 days is completed or till the policy is being renewed. The family floater plans will provide coverage for the delivery, postnatal care vaccinations, and other facilities as well. After 90 days is completed, the baby is included in the family floater plan by payment of an additional premium.
2. Minimum Age for Coverage:
However, in separate child health insurance plans, minor children who are just of an age of 1 day can be provided coverage in case of either of the parent being included in the health insurance plan. So, the minimum age for the entry of a child into a family floater health plan is one day, and it can be 90 days as well in some cases.
Furthermore, there are a number of family floater health insurance plans which do not include maternity coverage along with them, and in these health plans, the minimum age of entry for a child into the plan is around 5 years.
Expert Tip: In these cases, i.e. where you are interested in including your newborn baby into the health insurance plan, you will need to pro-actively inform your insurance provider about the arrival of your little one within a week’s time. This would help expedite the procedure of including your newborn baby in your health insurance plan.
3. Maximum Age for Children under Floater Option with Parents:
In family floater health plans, your dependent children can be included in the family floater health plan up to the age of 21 years-25 years. But, in the case of individual child health plans, there is no maximum limit on the age of a child up to which he can be covered. The individual health plans even have the feature of lifelong renewability.
The sum insured in both the cases, i.e. in family floater plan and in individual child health plans is chosen by the parent, and the child enjoys the coverage.
Expert Tip: If the child is not a minor anymore at the time of opting for the plan, then it is advisable that she/he opts for a separate health insurance plan so that:
- It can be continued lifelong
- She/he can add her/his spouse and children after marriage
4. Comprehensive Coverage:
Regarding the coverage provided by health insurance plans for children, mostly all insurance providers include all-round coverage in the health insurance plans. The major expenses which are covered under the health insurance plans for children are the:
Pre-hospitalization expenses, hospitalization and post-hospitalization expenses.
In case of an unfortunate critical illness or life-threatening ailment in the child, the health insurance will provide full coverage.
Moreover, other benefits like:
- Daily cash benefits,
- Free medical check-up annually on claim-free renewal,
- Coverage of ambulance expenses, etc. is also included in the children's health insurance plans.
5. Exclusions:
Certain health insurance plans which cover children, however, do not provide coverage for the expenses incurred in the treatment of congenital defects in the kids. This is one of the most common exclusions, which is particularly important in the case of children.
Expert Tip: All exclusions need to be considered at the time of choosing the best health plan for your child.
6. Tax Benefits:
Furthermore, tax benefits can be availed on the family health insurance plans, i.e. a deduction of INR 25,000 can be claimed for the premium paid for health insurance plans for yourself, your spouse and kids.
How to select a good health insurance plan for children?
It is usually advisable to opt for a family floater health plan as it provides health insurance for children as well as the family members along with some additional benefits like counseling for health-related issues and specialist consultation, etc.
You should always try and opt for a health insurance plan which provides lifelong renewability and should be providing maximum coverage at a fair premium. For your kids who are of the age 5 years and above, you should opt for an individual child health insurance plan. For kids who are less than 5 years of age, they can be included under the Family Floater plan along with the other members of the family.
Moreover, you should know in detail about the coverage and the exclusions of the health insurance policy you are purchasing for your children.
Hence, buying a health insurance policy for your children at a younger age itself is always a wiser decision. This will ensure planned and good quality medical facilities for your children and will also help in keeping your savings intact even if there is a medical emergency.
