Health Insurance For Parents in India

A health insurance plan for parents is designed to provide financial coverage to the individuals who are parents or are about to become parents. Various options of health insurance for parents are available in India that provide coverage to both types of parents - old and young. However, they might not be labelled as 'health plans for parents'. In this page, we have attempted to clarify what exactly is available for various segments and needs.

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5 Best Health Insurance for Parents in India

What is Health Insurance for Parents?

Health insurance for parents is a unique plan designed specifically to cover the medical needs of parents. It offers medical coverage against medical conditions that may occur as a result of old age and result in high medical costs. It comes with a higher sum insured and offers various features such as annual health check-ups, cashless treatment. Moreover, there are various health insurance for parents that offer medical coverage for COVID-19 treatment along with other serious illnesses that can be quite expensive to treat.

Types Of Health Insurance Plan For Parents

Given below is a brief description of the different types of health insurance for parents:

1. Plan For Parents Above 60 Years Of Age

   If you are looking for medical insurance for parents who are above 60 years of age, you can consider going for a senior citizen health insurance plan. Given that most of the standard health insurance plans do not offer coverage to people above 60 or usually require pre-screening medical tests, that is why this plan is considered ideal for senior citizens. The benefits derived from medical policies for parents are suitable to cover the medical expenses of old aged people such as high insurance coverage, coverage for pre-existing diseases, pre and post hospitalization expenses, lifelong renewable facility and cashless hospitalization.

   However, since the pre-medical tests are waived off, these medical policies for parents usually come with a co-payment condition of 20-30% depending on plan and company. Co-payment is the percentage of claim amount which needs to be borne by the insured. Ideally people prefer a plan without any co-payment, but in case such plans are not available, you can go for a plan that has lower co-payment. To get more detailed information on mediclaim policies for parents or senior citizens, check out our Senior citizen plan page.

2. Plan For Parents Below 60 Years Of Age

   In such a case, you can go for a normal family floater plan. Such plans allow covering members of a family under one single policy. You can cover your father and mother together under single medical insurance for parents. In case you are considering purchasing a plan to cover yourself, your spouse, children and your parents in a single plan, that too is possible but we usually don't recommend that for the following reasons:

   • Availability of plan: Very few companies offer plans that provide coverage to more than 2 adults in a single policy. In such a case, your choices become very limited.
   • Needs can be different: Given that there's a huge age gap between you and your parents, it is natural that your needs will also be significantly different. That is why, it is advisable to go for a higher sum assured for parents, while for yourself and your family, you can go for a slightly lower sum assured.

   It is a smart decision to opt for a separate medical policy for parents and to go for a separate family floater plan for yourself, your spouse and children. You can check out more information about family floater plans here.

3. Plan for yourself (i.e if you yourself are a parent or are about to become a parent)

   If you are a parent or about to become one, you should also opt for a normal family floater plan that can cover you, your spouse and upto 4 children. A family floater plan comes with the concept of shared sum assured, meaning the sum assured is shared amongst your family members. Due to the fact that the sum assured is shared, the premium amount paid for this plan is very low in comparison to the premium paid if you go for an individual plan for each member. Generally, most of the family floater plans allow including children upto the age of 18 while some also allow including children upto the age of 21.

Adding A New Born Child To Your Plan

If your children are not already included, and you want to include them in your existing plan, that is also possible. Getting a health insurance policy for your new born child is one of the best things you can do for your kid. Considering how expensive the Indian healthcare systems are, it is not easy to afford all the health care expenses of a new born child on your own. Therefore, it is vital that you must have a back up plan to save you from financial distress in future. Given below is the process of adding a new born child to your health insurance policy-

1. Before Renewal Date

   To add your new born child to your existing health insurance plan, the process is quite simple. First, inform your insurance company and it will then ask you to fill a prescribed form. After filling the form, attach it with all the required documents such as the birth certificate of newborn baby, maternity discharge card and submit it to the insurance provider. Adding a new member to the policy will naturally increase the premium amount, so the insurance provider will also ask you to submit a cheque or DD of the increased premium amount.

2. At The Time Of Renewal

   For adding your newborn at renewal time of the plan, there are two options- offline and online. Offline process is the same as the before renewal date process discussed above. But if you wish to go for the online process, it's a bit different. For the online process, you need to first visit the website of the insurer. There you will find the renewal page and an option to add a newborn somewhere on the page. Fill up that page along with the necessary information and pay the increased premium amount. Some insurance providers also ask to attach a soft copy of the newborn's birth certificate.

   *Note- The process described above is a general description about how to add a newborn to the health insurance plan. This process might vary depending upon the terms and conditions of the insurance companies.

Things To Consider While Choosing Health Insurance Plan For Parents

While selecting a mediclaim insurance policy for parents, you will come across several insurance providers who offer a variety of plans related to parental insurance. To find the best plan among them, it is important that you should focus on the below mentioned factors:

Age

Age of the insured(s) is the very first thing which you should consider while selecting any health insurance plan. Any plan you select, You must select a plan depending upon the age of the parents. Let's understand this with the help of an example- If you want to take insurance for your parents who are above 60 years in age, then you must go for the senior citizen insurance plan. But if your parent's age is between 30 to 50 years, then it is advisable to opt for the family floater plan.

Coverage

The cost of medical treatments is increasing every year in India and is expected to get more expensive in future. That is why, it is wise to select a plan which offers higher coverage. You should go for a plan whose coverage amount is good enough to keep you protected in future during times of a medical emergency.

Maternity Benefits

For the people who are about to start a family, it is wise to go for a plan that provides coverage against maternity-related expenses. Usually, some insurance companies in India provide the benefits of maternity and newborn child cover in their family health insurance plans. However, such plans come at a significantly higher price compared to a normal health insurance plan.

Co-payment Amount

It refers to a clause where the insurer is supposed to pay a certain percentage of their hospital bill while the rest is provided by the insurance provider. Consider this example- Suppose, you take a policy worth Rs. 10 lakh at a co-payment clause of 10%. Now at the time of claiming the policy, your insurance provider will pay 90% of the claim amount which is Rs 9 lakh while the remaining amount of Rs 1 Lakh will be paid by you- out of your own pockets. So, it is advisable to opt for a plan that has a minimal co-payment amount as it will keep you safe from financial burden during the times of trouble.

Why Buy Medical Insurance for Parents Online?

Exclusions

There are some common exclusions in health insurance plans for parents, in case of which the insurance companies are not liable to pay the claim. It is important that you must go through all these exclusions while deciding which plan you should buy as it will help you to make the right selection. Some of the common exclusions are listed below:

• Any disease contracted within 30 days of availing the policy
• Any type of non allopathic treatment
• Any expense arising due to self-inflicted injuries
• Expenses for treatment taken outside the country
• Expenses related to cosmetic, aesthetic and obesity treatment
• Medical expenses incurred for treatment of AIDS
• Injuries resulting due to war, act of foreign army, etc.

Claim Process

In general, there are two ways of filling a claim in insurance companies- cashless and reimbursement claim method. Both these method are described below:

Cashless Claim Process

This process should be opted only if you're taking treatment in a network hospital of the insurance provider. Stick to these following steps while filling the claim-

• Notify your insurance company about the hospitalisation.
• Submit your health card and photo id proof to the hospital.
• Fill up the pre-authorization form and submit it to the hospital for verification.
• If approved, the insurance company will provide you with the cashless claim facility.

Reimbursement Claim Process

If you want to take treatment in any other hospital apart from the network ones, you should go for the reimbursement process. Under this process, you'll be paying the treatment expenses on your own and then reimburse those expenses from the insurance company. Steps for filing reimbursement claim are-

• Intimate the insurance provider.
• Fill up the claim form and submit it along with the discharge certificate and other necessary documents to the insurance provider.
• The insurer will verify the details of the claim and the claim amount will be transferred to the registered account as soon as everything is checked and sorted.

Note- The above-listed steps are described in general. The steps can also vary depending on the chosen insurer.

Why Consider PolicyX.com?

Given the plethora of health insurance for parents available in the market nowadays, it is natural to feel confused about which one should you select. We, at PolicyX.com will help you clear this confusion. Our services are devoted towards helping customers find the best and most suitable insurance plan. We will help you to easily compare all different types of health insurance for senior citizens in India and find the one that suits your needs. Our insurance experts are responsive to all the needs of the customers and will be there to assist you in finding the best plan for yourself.