Best Health Insurance Plans for Senior Citizens in India: How to Choose the Right One?

Best Health Insurance Plans for Senior Citizens: An Overview

Health insurance is the most important aspect of financial planning. The rising cost of medical bills can drain out your savings. So, having health insurance is a must for everyone, irrespective of age. Best health insurance for senior citizens offers comprehensive medical insurance to people who belong to the age group of 60 and 80 years. It is very important to analyze how to decide on the best health insurance for Senior Citizens. There must be a specific plan dedicated for your parents which should be different from the family floater plan. When it comes to choosing the best senior citizen health insurance, you must choose the right approach while selecting the plan. Also, make sure that it covers all the necessary things required for senior citizens before choosing the best medical insurance for senior citizens. In this article, we are going to learn about the best medical insurance for senior citizens India. 

What is the best health insurance for senior citizens India?

The most important aspect of having insurance is that it gives you financial protection during an emergency and health insurance is one of the most important insurance one must have. It covers your hospitalization charges, daycare expenses, ambulance cost, medical cost, routine medical checkups, and other medical-related expenses. The best mediclaim policy for senior citizens is different from health insurance for families or individuals. Since senior citizens are more prone to illness. Also, they are at an age where the risk of attracting illness or falling ill is more. The probability of senior citizens getting hospitalized is higher. The premiums are determined by age. For example, an individual who is 60 years old will have to pay a higher premium as compared to a person who is 30 years old. If they are included in the same family medical insurance plan, then you will end up giving more premiums for that coverage and this is the reason why you should purchase a specific plan for them that is different from the plan that you choose for yourself or your family. 

Best Mediclaim Plans for Senior Citizens: Key takeaways

• The best mediclaim policy for senior citizens is a must-have to tackle the rising medical cost. 
• Best health insurance for senior citizens in India offers coverage for medical expenses for citizens who are above 60. 
• When a person reaches 60 years of age, he is more prone to get serious ailments or the probability of getting hospitalized increases. So, senior citizens must have specific health insurance that covers all their medical expenses. 

How to choose the best insurance plans for senior citizens?

Always make sure to consider a few things before choosing the best insurance policy for senior citizens.

1. Hospitalization expenses: If a senior citizen gets hospitalized due to any illness, disease, or surgery then all the expenses such as doctor’s fees, room charges, test charges, daycare expenses, and ambulance charges must be covered by the insurance company.  
2. Domiciliary care: sometimes senior citizens might have to go under treatment at their home due to prolong treatment. So, choose insurance policies for senior citizens that cover domiciliary care or home treatment. 
3. Cashless treatments: Make sure that you must avail the benefits of cashless hospitalization from the hospitalization that is linked with the insurance company. 
4. Lifetime renewability: While choosing the best insurance for senior citizens make sure that the insurance company offers lifetime renewability without any age limit. 
5. Medical tests: This is one of the most important things to consider while choosing the best medical insurance India for senior citizens. People at the age of 60 generally have pre-existing diseases. So, make sure that the insurance company covers all your expenses for medical tests. 
6. Check for critical illness benefits: Senior citizens are more prone to critical illness which includes heart attack, stroke, cardiac arrest, cancer, kidney failure, etc. Medical costs are expensive for these diseases as compared to other illnesses. So, make sure that the insurance plan covers critical illness. 
7. High-sum insured: Choose the best health policy for senior citizens that provide high coverage at affordable premiums because of the rising medical cost. 

Best Health Insurance for Senior Citizens in India 2022

Myths about Senior Citizen Health Insurance:

• Senior citizen health insurance is not a part of the government health insurance scheme.
• Senior citizen health insurance is not available to the employees of private companies.
• Senior citizen health insurance is not a part of the employee provident fund (EPF) scheme.

What to do if the proposal is declined?

If the proposal is declined, you can do the following:

• Request for reconsideration. You can request reconsideration from your insurer if you feel that there are extenuating circumstances or if you wish to submit additional documents or evidence to support your case. One must request within 60 days of issuance of the previous decision letter.
• File a grievance with the Insurance Ombudsman: If you are not satisfied with the response received from your insurer about filing a grievance, then you can file one before an independent forum called Insurance Ombudsman (IO). File a claim under section 80GHCF (GST Compensation Fund): In this case, you need to pay only taxes while claiming reimbursement due on account of health insurance premiums paid through ESI accounts during the financial year 2018-19

Exclusions: What is not covered under Senior Citizen Medical Insurance?

The most common exclusion is for pre-existing illnesses. If you have a history of high blood pressure or any other serious ailment, then insurance will not cover these illnesses under your health insurance policy. The same applies to significant surgery carried out in the past (even if one undertook it due to an accident). Your health insurance policy will only cover injuries sustained during your trip, such as sprains and fractures sustained during an accidental fall.

Other exclusions include specific procedures, tests, and treatments such as cosmetic surgery and any surgical procedure where the patient needs anesthesia for it to be performed successfully. Also excluded are infertility treatment procedures like IVF (in vitro fertilization), where donor eggs or sperm need to be used for healthy embryo implantation into the womb can occur successfully.

Advantages of a Senior Citizen Health Insurance Plan: Coverage Offered

• Coverage for Critical Illnesses
• Coverage for Chronic Illnesses
• Coverage for Preventive Care
• Coverage for Outpatient Care
• Coverage for Inpatient Care
• Emergency Medical Evacuation (EME)
• Pre-existing Conditions

How to Make a Claim

In an emergency, the insured person is entitled to claim the amount they have paid as a premium. However, it is essential to note that claims should be made within a reasonable period after the incident to be processed and paid accordingly. You must contact your insurance company if you wish to claim your health insurance policy. The insurer will then provide you with an application form for making such a claim, which you must fill out. It may also require some medical documents to support your claim. They will need these before processing your request for payment of damages or expenses incurred due to illness or injury suffered by yourself or loved ones during the policy tenure period.

To conclude, elderly persons who are around their 60s are more prone to disease and get serious ailments and if you don't have the best mediclaim insurance India for senior citizens all your savings will be wiped out within a few days. So, to save you from such a situation, you must have the best policy for senior citizens to cover your hospital and medical expenses. Assess all your requirements and choose your plan based on them.