In India, the healthcare costs are immensely high and is on a continuous rise.

We take pride in being the 6th wealthiest country in the world and 5th largest defence spender. But is India treading on a sanguine path? Well, it is pretty hard to discern, as the Planning Commission in 2012 stated that the people below the poverty line in India account for 250 million, of which 200 million people live in the rural areas.

One such issue is lack of health insurance awareness in our country

Healthcare in India is in a state of enormous transition: increased income and health consciousness among  the  majority  of  the  classes,  price  liberalization,  reduction  in  bureaucracy,  and  the  introduction of private healthcare financing drive the change.

The  concept  of  Health  Insurance  was  proposed  in  the  year  1694  by  Hugh  the  elder  Chamberlen  from  Peter  Chamberlen  family.

MEDICLAIM को एक बेहतरीन  WEALTH MANAGEMENT (धन प्रबंधन) साधन की तरह देखना चाहिए।

The lack of this knowledge is one of the pivotal reasons for the unawareness of health insurance. Here are some leading causes for this widespread lack of awareness:

1. The existing burdens of loans on the poor make them reluctant to think of the credit policies that are actually issued in their interest.
2. The biggest factor that contributes to this unawareness of health insurance is illiteracy.
3. Even though right to information is a fundamental right in our country, a considerable section of Indians lack the exposure to information that is issued in the national interest of the people.
4. The growth of the private health sector has an upper hand over the public sector health sector. Due to this, the expensive services of the private sector do not reach the poor and underprivileged, who need it the most.

Three Common Scenarios that most commonly happen in your family....

अगर इनमें से किसी भी अनहोनी से आपके परिवार को मुखातिब होना पड़ा तो क्या आपके पास इतने धन की व्यवस्था है कि आपके प्रियजनों का इलाज बिना आपके किसी सपने से समझौते किये बिना हो जाये। your hard earned WEALTH can evaporate in snap of time. BUILD your GUARDS against worse times.

17 Worst Case Scenarios of Having No Health Insurance

You will not be fined for going UNinsured… but that doesn’t mean you should skip out on getting a health plan?

Health care is the number one cause of bankruptcy in the WESTERN world, and buying health insurance is a smart way to protect against expensive medical bills in the event of an emergency.

Here’s what 13 common scenarios look like with and without health insurance.

How Expensive Does Health Care Get Without Insurance?

* cost of treatments are approximates, and may varry as per hospital packages.

Conclusion:

Health insurance is like a knife. In the surgeon’s hand it can save the patient, while in the hands of the quack, it can kill.

Health insurance is going to develop rapidly in future.

The main challenge is to see that it benefits the poor and the weak in terms of better coverage and health services at lower costs  without  negative  aspects  of  cost  increase  and  overuse  of  procedures  and  technology  in  provision of health care.

WHY planning in advance can help you later in case of MEDICLAIM ?

Almost all health insurance (mediclaim) policies have certain waiting period conditions.

The concept of waiting period in a health insurance policy is defined as the period of time specified which must pass before some or all of your health care coverage can begin. Hence, this is the period during which claim is not admitted.

WaItIng peRIod is such a SPOILER, that it can be DISASTROUS to your WEALTH

Types of Waiting Period in Health Insurance
Here’s all you need to know before making an insurance claim:

1. General health insurance waiting period  is one month for every policy except for accidental cases.
2. There is a 90 days waiting period for infants or new born babies.
3. There are a few Insurance companies that offer maternity benefits, but with a waiting period ranging from 9 months to 36 months

Pre-Existing Diseases (PED)
 At the time of taking health insurance, if an insured declares that he has specific ailments say diabetes, high blood pressure, thyroid, etc., these are called pre-existing diseases. In such cases, insurance company’s health underwriters insist for medical tests for assessing the level of impact of the diseases on the policyholder. Based on the reports, they decide if a proposal is to be accepted or not. In case they accept the proposal, they prescribe a waiting period usually of 4 years. This implies that any hospitalization expenses related to the declared ailments can be claimed only after 4 successful years with the insurer.  Hence, it is important to take health insurance policy early in life to avoid any waiting period.

One/Two Years Waiting Periods for Particular Ailments

There are certain listed ailments such as ENT disorders, hernia, osteoporosis, etc. for which health policies normally have one or two years of waiting period.

IMPORTANT CASE STUDY:
Recently, Mr. Raj Purohit, a resident of GURGAON, bought a health insurance policy worth Rs 15 lakh sum insured and was very happy with his decision. He was quite aware of his lifestyle habits and family medical history which made him prone to various illnesses. Considering the cost of treatment of those diseases, he was sure that buying health insurance cover is the best thing to do. However, little did he know that every health insurance policy comes with a defined ‘waiting period’.
Just two weeks after Rajat bought the health policy, he was diagnosed with a 7.8 centimetres bladder stone and was advised to go for a Lithotripsy (surgery for removing stone). Unaware about the waiting period in his health insurance policy, he got admitted in his choice of hospital and went for the surgery thinking his insurer will take care of all the medical expenses. However, he was totally shocked when he was informed that as he hasn’t completed the initial waiting period of the health insurance, his claim would not be accepted. Unfortunately, Rajat himself had to bear all the medical expenses which included hospitalisation and surgery charges amounting to Rs 1.5 lakh.

Different Types of Waiting Periods
# Initial Waiting Period
# Disease-specific Waiting Period
# Pre-existing Disease Waiting Period
# Maternity Waiting Period

WHY Waiting Period in Health Insurance

The clause of waiting-period in health insurance is implemented to avoid wrong intention of a person to claim benefit under insurance plan. There had been instances where customers without any health insurance, after being diagnosed with a specific disease purchased a health insurance without disclosing the disease to the insurer. So, in order to avoid such unethical practices, the concept of waiting period is implemented in health insurance cover.

Other Important Points Related to Health Insurance Waiting Period:

If during the waiting period, the insured is diagnosed with a disease for the first time, it will not be called a pre-existing disease. The policy will cover such ailment.

With changing times insurance companies have designed plans for senior citizens where health insurance waiting periods have been done away with by adding a co-pay clause. Co-pay clause implies that policy holders will have to bear a certain percentage of claim amounts. For example, for a co-pay of 30%, in a claim of Rs. 1 lakh, policy holder will have to bear Rs 30000.