Long-Term Health Insurance Plans & How Are They Beneficial?
A long-term health insurance plan functions to unload the financial stress from the policyholders. It’s formed to help lessen the expense of hospitalisation, home assistance, or a facility of assisted living. Apart from financially struggling people, these long-term policies are also a boon for those who have no one else to look after them by covering home assistance. This could eliminate the stress that dwells in every person as to who will look after them when they are ill and alone.
With rising inflation, the cost of medical expenses has constantly increased for years and is expected to increase more in the future. In light of such conditions, healthcare services may turn into a much costlier affair. Therefore, the medical coverage plan is considered the best available choice to combat the chances of a monetary crisis due to a medical emergency. However, several insurance agencies have a few regulations and conditions, which should be considered when buying a health insurance scheme.
Table of Contents
- What is Long-Term Health Insurance?
- Why Choose a Long-term Health Insurance Plan?
- What are the Reasons that make the long-term plan essential?
- How are pre-existing illnesses dealt with under long-term health plans?
- Can senior citizens also avail themselves of long-term health insurance policies?
- Conclusion
What is Long-Term Health Insurance?
The tenure of long-term health insurance policies generally goes around 2-3 years. In this way, one can save and have it as a substitute for health policies, which are valid for 1 year, and enhance the insurance coverage for 2-3 years. It works almost like an alternative for a one-year health plan with the difference that it doesn’t end in one year and continues for 2-3 or more years.
Why Choose a Long-term Health Insurance Plan?
The most significant benefit of the long-term health insurance plan is that the individuals insured do not need to get their policies renewed every year or so. In addition to this advantage, these policies are available at lower rates too than one-year medical coverage policies. When people lock themselves for a long time such as 3 years or so, they make themselves insusceptible to rate updates of the premiums that may occur amid the period. Insurance agencies are relied upon to work out and offer limits for NCB (no-claim bonus) to long-term health insurance policyholders. As the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) fixes the slab for NCB, there arises the possibility of paying the benefits as claim-related concessions. For instance, the insurance-providing agency may offer a reward to a policyholder for every claim-free year.
What are the Reasons that make the long-term plan essential?
Lately, more awareness is observed among the Indians when it comes to the need for health insurance plans. The growing health care expenses and constant marketing of health insurance by insurance agencies can persuade an ever-increasing number of individuals to consider health care coverage as a component of their investment speculations. The modifications in the tax rebates on health policies are also quite responsible for promoting health policies.
However, with the increasing number of insurers, insurance companies need to manage a bigger bunch of paperwork. This, with the expanding medical expenses, is compelling the health coverage-providing organisations to increase the premiums of long-term medical Insurance plans. While organisations can’t do anything about the expanding medical costs, they can just limit their expenses by decreasing the paperwork to keep offering more and more benefits to the customers.
How are pre-existing illnesses dealt with under long-term health plans?
Long-term medical coverage policies are probably going to insure pre-existing illnesses with a specific waiting period according to conventional strategies. Although, the clause for the waiting period varies from insurer to insurer. For instance, assume that somebody’s scheme has a waiting period of 3 years, and he or she has officially finished 2 years. So, now if they choose to opt for a long-term plan amid the third year, they are allowed to make claims for hospitalisation costs against prior illnesses, from the start of the fourth year.
Can senior citizens also avail themselves of long-term health insurance policies?
Albeit, older people are more prone to illness, health insurance organizations consider them to be at high risk and consequently, rarely allow them to be covered under long-term policies. The confirmations to this aspect more or less rely upon the approvals of IRDAI.
Conclusion
Nobody wants a health insurance plan for a specific period but for a lifetime. Thus, stretching a health policy to a bigger time zone not only saves the time to renew policies every year but also money, by getting the plan at a discounted rate. Thus, it’s better to go for the long-term plan and gain peace of mind for lifelong.
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