How Health Insurance Changes The Way You Care for Your Child

Health insurance for your children is important because it protects them from unforeseen diseases, injuries, or accidents.

A child health insurance policy is designed to provide kids with the best treatment available by covering all the hospitalisation costs. This is why getting your kids covered under a comprehensive health insurance should be your priority. And you should not underestimate it.

In India, we all need health insurance. You do. Your children do. And your spouse does. It’s a must. But, some parents with no health insurance policy underestimate the importance of health insurance policies for their children. They are reluctant to buy an adequate cover. On the flip side, the parents with a health plan tend to cover their kids too because they understand the importance of health insurance for children.

After all, letting a child go without a health insurance policy also means that you are careless about his/her health. What if he or she gets sick, injured and hospitalized? How will you pay the hospital bill? Will you settle all the treatment expenses from your own pocket? That may cost you a whole lot more than paying for coverage.

We should be thankful to health insurance companies that offer health plans for everyone, be it a child, adult or senior. When it comes to child health insurance, it is offered along with individual or family floater plans. Some of these policies are available at lower premiums and come with added perks, tax benefits, discounts and add-on covers, etc.

This piece of write-up brings to you everything about child health insurance policies. Read on to know them.

Why Is Health Insurance Important for Children?

Taking proper care of your child is important. Ensuring he or she is healthy is integral to their well-being. According to medical experts, children have a lower immunity in comparison to adults. They are more susceptible to diseases. Some illnesses naturally target children, causing hospitalisation.

Vaccinations and regular check-ups are a vital part of securing children’s health. As a child grows, these vaccinations protect them from infectious diseases such as mumps, diphtheria, diarrhoea, measles and a host of other infections. As a parent, you have to take your kids to doctors very frequently, which is expensive. To make sure you don’t spend all your savings in medical treatment and keeping your child healthy, investing in a health insurance policy is a wise choice.

Given the health risks of children, many health insurance companies in India are offering a number of policies for children. And the best part is that you can buy them online.

These insurance products cover every stage of a child’s growth. Some plans are specially customized for a particular stage. In general, a child plan covers a broad range of illnesses, with some added benefits like check-ups, vaccinations as part of the plan.

Types of Child Health Policies

Depending on the type of health insurance policies you are looking for, a variety of child health policies are available in the market.

1. Individual Child Health Plans

Individual child health policies are designed to cover your child with a range of benefits like comprehensive coverage and cashless hospitalisation. Some plans also provide health check-up benefits, ambulance services and costs of medicines and doctors frees.

Below are the key benefits of individual child health policies:

• Affordable: Health insurance for kids is affordable because the premium against the plans is low.
• Additional perks: These plans often come with added-perks like cashless hospitalisation. It lets you admit your kids to one of the partnered hospitals without paying even a single penny.
• No Claim Bonus: Some policies do also offer no claim bonus benefits. With it, the payable premium amount is reduced or the sum insured is increased without any additional charges.

Family Floater Health Plans:

This is a kind of health insurance that provides coverage to the entire family members. These policies cover the primary policyholder, spouse and up to 4 children (in most of the policies). A family floater policy is good for long-term plans and you can add a new member as early as birth. The main benefits of these plans are that you can cover your children right from birth against everything from a hospital stay to infant vaccination, etc.

There are some cases where family floater plans provide coverage for children from 90 days after birth. Such policies give you options to renew the infant cover annually.

Furthermore, family health insurance covers children as infants and teenagers. Such policies have an upper limit of mostly 25 years. After 25 years, children are excluded from the coverage of the policy. As the kid grows, he or she is considered separate entity under the plan and they will be able to avail the benefits received by their parents after paying an additional premium for them. 

Below are the key advantages of Family Floater Plans for Children

• No-hassle to track the plan: Since all the family members are covered under one policy, keeping track of the policy and associated cover benefits is easier. Also, it is easy to file a claim because the process can be streamlined.
• Discounts- A family floater policy can come with special discounts, especially in case of adding members to a plan. Also, if you add a younger family member, you will have to pay a lower premium.
• Fixed premium: Another benefit of choosing a child policy under family health insurance is that you have to pay a fixed premium for the duration of the policy term.
• Add-on covers: There are many add-on covers you can add to your plan when required. So, instead of going for a new plan, you can add an extra cover at a minimal premium.
• Tax benefits- Like in individual policies, tax benefits are another advantage of getting a family floater health insurance policy.

Choosing Health Insurance for Children

When choosing health insurance for your child, consider the following points:

• Minimum and maximum age of children to be covered
• The highest amount of coverage available for your child under the policy
• Co-pay option, sum insured limit, exclusions, etc.
• Maximum renewal ceasing age
• Cover for preexisting diseases (though not applicable in children)

Also Read

Read Before You Start Looking for a Maternity Insurance Plan

Child Insurance - More Important Than You Think

Thus, health insurance for children is the best way to have peace of mind. With adequate cover, you can keep your child’s health safe and secure without having to worry about finance at the time of medical emergencies.