Team-BHP - Health insurance queries? Ask me!

Quote:

Originally Posted by shashant (Post 4367492)

Do you think it is wise to buy a personal insurance now with the cover of 10 lakh (18k+ premium per year) and keep it running post my retirement .

Glad you are thinking about this and earlier in age than me. I started this for my family (excluding me) just 4-5 months back and I am 44!

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Rationalist (Post 4364742)

Ofcourse at time of retirement a Comprehensive plan would be expensive. But if hillsnrains invests the savings into a mutual fund, he could easily afford any plan. If we start worrying too much about all the permutations and combinations then there is no end to it. I have seen patients ending up with bills of above 40 lakhs. How much coverage should we take for such rare scenarios? Right now in India the percentage of insured is too less. Going forward the percentage would increase and the rates would become less. Till retirement he has the safety net of his company and his wife’s policy. A stand alone policy for 25 lakh will cost ₹ 37000. He can easily save ₹ 30000 a year. That if invested in a Mutual fund can be around ₹ 80 lakh- ₹ 1 crore by retirement. He could easily get about ₹ 4-5 lakh yearly from that amount and the best insurance at that point wont cost more than ₹ 2 lakh a year.

Interesting perspective. Great to know this. Thanks

Quote:

Originally Posted by shashant (Post 4367492)

Hi,

I am 37 and me and my family is covered for upto 5 lakh via my office insurance.

Do you think it is wise to buy a personal insurance now with the cover of 10 lakh (18k+ premium per year) and keep it running post my retirement (which in IT is not too far stupid:).

By all means yes, i need not tell you how secure or otherwise IT or for that matter, any corporate job is, and therefore, the level of permanence the benefits that come with these jobs.

18k for a 10 l cover sounds like a great deal. Can you please share more details on the insurer, whether it is a floater plan etc? I have one with star and pay 16k, inclusive of tax, for a five lakh floater cover for my child, spouse and I.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hothatchaway (Post 4367785)

This is from Star Health. Covers Me, wife and Kid. 5 Lakh cover premium is around 14500 and 10 lakh its 18600/-

I just need to discuss about surplus plans before making a decision.

Quote:

Originally Posted by shashant (Post 4367492)

Do you think it is wise to buy a personal insurance now with the cover of 10 lakh (18k+ premium per year) and keep it running post my retirement (which in IT is not too far stupid:).

Go through this post by a BHPian who is a doctor himself, can use this alternate perspective although I personally don't agree with it.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifti...ml#post4364611

Hello Friends,

I am 38, my family is covered for upto 14 lakhs via my office insurance. This is a floater cover. Below is how it looks like for Per Insured Per Annum. The below plans are for 4 people (Myself, Spouse, 2 Parents). Father is 71 years, Mom and Mother in Law are 64 years old.

Current Default Plan:
Base Cover: 2 Lakhs (Hospitalization cover for each insured person per annum)
Floater Cover: 14 Lakhs (Hospitalization cover over and above the base cover).
Premium - 25000/- + TAXES

I have 2 optional higher hospitalization covers to increase cover within my organization as follows:

Base Cover: 3 Lakhs
Floater Cover: 19 Lakhs
Premium - 34000/- + TAXES

Base Cover: 4 Lakhs
Floater Cover: 26 Lakhs
Premium - 43000/- + TAXES

Couple of points where I need expert advise:

1. Do you think I should go with higher hospitalization options as above provided by my company for parents or shall I buy it from outside for them? By default I am covered under first one (i.e. one with 2 Lakhs base cover).

2. Currently they do not have any cover other than provided by my organization - which plans do you think I should go with? I have read all the recent posts and can make out Star health provides best one? But which plan? Should I consider comprehensive plan or something else?

3. My Mother In Law has a cover with SA of 4Lacs from Star Health which is due for renewal by 11th Mar 2018. She is 64 years age and is the ONLY plan under which she is covered. Do you think I should increase the SA value to 10 or 15 Lacs? And if I should change her plan altogether? I dont know under which plan she is enrolled currently with Star Health.

Experts Please advise.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpoiledBratt (Post 4367908)

I am 38, my family is covered for upto 14 lakhs via my office insurance. This is a floater cover. Below is how it looks like for Per Insured Per Annum. The below plans are for 4 people (Myself, Spouse, 2 Parents). Father is 71 years, Mom and Mother in Law are 64 years old.

Current Default Plan:
Base Cover: 2 Lakhs (Hospitalization cover for each insured person per annum)
Floater Cover: 14 Lakhs (Hospitalization cover over and above the base cover).
Premium - 25000/- + TAXES

A bit confusing post (to me atleast).
So your total base cover for 4 persons is 8 L @ 2L per insured???
Floater cover of 14L is applicable for per insured or for all 4???
So total coverage (per person??) is actually 16L???

Since your parents are also covered in the same plan offered by your company, you are basically losing out on tax exemptions on premium paid for senior citizen medical insurance which from this year is Rs 50K. Check with your employer if parent's premium can be separately paid to avail tax deductions under sec 80D.

Coming to the query on MIL, since the policy is due for renewal, I am sure she will avail the NCB which will increase the coverage amount (hope she hasn't opted for premium discounts). If you were planning to increase the SA, the you will have to buy a new policy which will mean a higher premium since she is already a senior citizen. You can buy a top up policy of 15L to cover the difference.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ghodlur (Post 4367982)

Apologies, if my message created confusion. Base cover is separate for each which is 2L. 14L floater is for whole family of 4, which makes total coverage per person to 16L.

You are correct, my org is paying premium only for myself and spouse. While I am paying the premium for my parents for which I am also availing the tax benefit.

Regarding the query on MIL's policy, yes she will avail NCB but while I am trying to renew the policy online, it is showing me an option to upgrade from 4L to 5,10 or 15L and choosing either of them increases the premium significantly. Does it mean that she is not getting the benefit of auto increase of the coverage amount? And who can confirm that?

Regarding your suggestion of top-up policy which one do you prefer and in which case if I renew current policy with SA of 5L, then for top-up policy the minimum deductible should be 5L or Can I opt for lesser deductible also?
Any suggestions of top-up plans in this case?

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpoiledBratt (Post 4368002)

Does it mean that she is not getting the benefit of auto increase of the coverage amount? And who can confirm that?

Regarding your suggestion of top-up policy which one do you prefer and in which case if I renew current policy with SA of 5L, then for top-up policy the minimum deductible should be 5L or Can I opt for lesser deductible also?
Any suggestions of top-up plans in this case?

Check the policy document where it must have been explicitly mentioned about the increase in the coverage amount due to NCB. For eg, if the policy says 20% NCB is applicable for a claim free year, then ideally the coverage for your MIL would be 4.8L. You can contact Star health is things are not clear.

Check the posts # 429 and 431 in this thread for some suggestions regarding top up plans from insurance cos. Alternatively you can check the same in the coverfox website where you can play around with different options to calculate the coverage and the premium applicable. Before you decide, read the T&C of the top up plans to understand the inclusions and exclusions.

Hi, I am late by a decade but got to start somewhere so... Here goes.

I need a term insurance policy for me. Am 34 years old with a 1.5 year old child. Non smoker. Have family history of cardiac disease and diabetes.

Am a salaried individual with yearly gross income less than 15 lakhs. Please advise which policy should I opt for, for how many years and with what riders. Am looking for an online term insurance only policy (having lost substantial savings in my stupidity of buying insurance as "investment"). Am looking for a cover of approx 1.5cr.

Thanks in advance.

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Originally Posted by digitalnirvana (Post 4376401)

I took my term plans when I was 33, i.e. 7 years back. Have two plans, with total coverage of 2 Cr. Premium is approx 25k per annum : 15k to ICICI Pru and 10k to Aviva for coverage of 1 cr each. These are plain vanilla covers with no critical illness rider. So far not been able to verify their promptness or customer support. I guess I never will be able to verify, since it is a term cover.lol:

You can check on Policy Bazaar. There are plans covering critical illnesses, (Cancer, Heart ailments etc) personal accident, loss of income due to accidents etc, which you should opt for. These pay a lumpsum on diagnosis, even if the insured survives the critical illness. Try to take the policy from two different providers, just to spread the risk evenly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by digitalnirvana (Post 4376773)

Some say one should have cover till the retirement age, but some new plans have cover till 99 years.

You insure your life so that if you die, people who are dependent on your income do not face financial problems because of your death. Post your retirement, nobody is dependent on your income because you do not have any income. So why do you need coverage post retirement?

Quote:

Originally Posted by digitalnirvana (Post 4376401)

Check in this order Aegon>Aviva> ICICI pru> kotak e preferred> HDFC term protect. Use coverfox.com for comparison. You can purchase through them also. I have few policies through them, but non of them are term. They are usually troublefree. Or compare in coverfox and buy directly from the company website. Don't bother too much about Claim settlement ratio. Anything beyond 90% should be okay. According to one of my friend, LIC has best claim settlement because most of the settled policies are investment rather than true insurance.

Go for a coverage which is 200 times of your current monthly expenses - rationale behind this is that it should cover the home expense for 20years(along with interest earned on the corpus), usual time required for a kid to go through education.

Cover upto 60 or 65 years of age or until upto your youngest kid turns 25yrs of age. As you prolong your cover premium also increases and you would be unnecssarily paying premium after your retirement to maintain the cover.