Why Health Insurance Is Must These Days?

A medical emergency can creep up anytime, mandating immediate attention. On top of that, with the rising expenses associated with healthcare services, only a few can afford to finance the cost of emergency treatment. A health insurance policy thus provides financial backing during any medical emergency. 

Besides, such policies have become an indispensable part of life, mainly due to the following reasons. 

• Increasing number of critical illnesses 

Owing to the tectonic shift in lifestyle, individuals are now more at risk from certain kinds of diseases. Besides lifestyle-related ones, there is also an increase in critical and chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart attacks, hypertension, kidney failure, etc. The treatment expenses of such illnesses range in lakhs. A critical illness cover under health insurance policies can help mitigate the expenses of treating these illnesses.

• Coverage for entire family 

A health insurance plan is available in different variants. You can either opt for an individual plan or a family floater health insurance policy. The latter option allows you to make multiple claims for different members against a single premium every year. 

• Pre and post hospitalisation coverage 

Comprehensive health insurance coverage also includes the medical expenses incurred before and after hospitalisation. Few insurance aggregators offer coverage for up to 60 days before and 90 days after hospitalisation. 

• Income tax benefits 

The premium paid towards a health insurance policy is also eligible for tax exemptions under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Hence, policy-holders can save substantially on their taxable income by purchasing this plan. 

• Additional benefits 

A health insurance plan also accompanies additional benefits like No Claim Bonuses (NCB), top up covers, cashless treatment and several others. From time to time, the insurers also offer exclusive discounts on different plans. Hence, a health insurance plan ensures that policy-holders do not have to liquidate their savings to address any medical emergency. They can claim the sum insured as and when required by paying a nominal premium.

Read More: Types of Health Insurance Explained