How To Upgrade Health Insurance Coverage?

Health insurance is a pre-requisite for every individual, especially when our sedentary lifestyle, poor lifestyle choices and the increasing pollution is leading to our poor health. It’s the best decision to have individual health insurance despite you having or not having a workplace health insurance . However, health costs increase along with the rise in inflation.The sum assured of your policy may not cover all medical costs anticipated even in the near future. So you can forget about it covering your medical expenses after retirement. Hence it’s advisable upgrading health insurance to be able to comfortably meet the rising medical costs in future.Consider the following options to upgrade your health insurance:

You may think it’s okay to put off the task of upgrading your health insurance plan until the last moment. However, it is wiser to upgrade your health insurance policy in the prime of your youth (when you are healthy with lesser or no ailments). Over the years, you may develop illness or disease that may hinder you from procuring a cost-effective upgrade.Any upgrade requires a new application to the insurance company and declaring any new ailments you may have developed. Insurance companies may also reject your application for a high cover or charge higher premiums. Besides, another issue is that waiting periods are applicable from the year of the upgrade. So it’s best to upgrade your plan on time when you may not immediately need to avail it.

Your existing health insurance may be offering the maximum sum assured by the insurer. In such cases, you may consider porting your current policy to another product under the same insurance company or another insurance company. However, the portability application needs to be submitted 45 days in advance. You need to apply for your preferred sum assured amount in the proposal form.

If your existing policy offers the highest sum assured by the insurer and the portability option is not available, buy a new health insurance policy from another company. However, you should mention the existing policy in the proposal form of the new policy. In future, if you claim the first policy, the pending expenses, if any, can be covered with the second policy.

A top-up plan is the most popular option to upgrade health insurance coverage. However, thoroughly research on top-up plans and their threshold limit to make claims.To conclude, you buy health insurance to safeguard yourself and your family. You cannot treat your health insurance as a one-time purchase. You should regularly review your health cover and upgrade it foreseeing rise in medical expenses. Avail an increased cover and additional benefits by upgrading health insurance.

The information contained herein is generic in nature and is meant for educational purposes only. Nothing here is to be construed as an investment or financial or taxation advice nor to be considered as an invitation or solicitation or advertisement for any financial product. Readers are advised to exercise discretion and should seek independent professional advice prior to making any investment decision in relation to any financial product. Aditya Birla Capital Group is not liable for any decision arising out of the use of this information.