How to Choose a Suitable Plan for Parents?

While the crux of every health insurance policy remains the same i.e. Complete financial Support during medical emergencies. However, it is important to understand that the requirements for parents’ vastly differ from their children in terms of nature of diseases, expenses and recovery timeline, hence it is always advisable to buy a separate plan for the parents. Moreover, buying a health insurance plan for your parents is the right thing but buying a suitable health insurance plan is the smartest thing to do for your parents.

Buying an accurate health insurance policy for parents has become a lot more efficient as various insurers have designed bespoke packages especially for senior citizens or approaching that age suiting their requirements. There are a few crucial pointers that can help you in choosing an accurate insurance plan for your parents ticking the right checkboxes of their requirements.

• Comprehensive Coverage

Understanding the fact that older diseases take time to recover, a health insurance plan should offer you comprehensive coverage where there is no worry about managing pre & post hospitalization expenses, daycare expenses, ambulance charges, domiciliary hospitalization expenses, among others.

• Cashless Treatments

In the given scenario of the scarcity of required funds, your health insurance plan should come to aid you with cashless treatments. The health insurance plan must allow cashless medical treatment within any of the network hospitals that are a part of the respective insurer's network. With this, an individual can get the best treatment possible without paying for the expenses subjective to the policy.

• No Co-Payment

Always look for a reasonable co-payment i.e. predefined amount that the insured promises to pay at the time of a claim. Hence, it is instrumental to sign up for a health insurance policy that asks for a small co-pay in return, especially for those who don't have a regular income as it puts less pressure on your wallet.

• Complimentary Medical Check-ups

After a pre-defined age, pre-medical checkups of the insured are a must to determine the health conditions at regular intervals to ensure the health conditions. It is always beneficial to opt for the insurance company offering timely free medical health checkups to check on the health status.

• Zero Waiting Period

The medical requirements are totally unpredictable which can arouse unexpectedly, thus waiting for the health insurance plan to cover the pre-existing disease must not be a case in the policy of parents. Therefore, the smart move is to compare different plans available in the market and sign up for the one which offers the lowest waiting period.

Disease-specific Plans

Considering a few prolonged ailments, there are certain companies that have rolled out bespoke insurance plans to specifically give long term coverage against those diseases such as diabetes, BP, etc. Therefore if your parents are suffering from any such disease then buying disease-specific plans can be helpful in raising cover against them.

In fact, the plans for parents can be selected according to their age which provides better coverage understanding their immediate needs. For instance, there are plans for ‘Parents above the age of 60 years’, ‘Parents below the age of 60 years’ and ‘Plan for Yourself’. The last ‘Plan for Yourself’ is meant for new parents or those who are about to become parents.

Senior Citizens Health Insurance Plans

Below mentioned is the list of best Senior Citizen Health Insurance Plans based on lower premiums for the coverage of Rs. 5 Lakhs. Let’s have a look at them:

Star Health Senior Citizens Red Carpet Plan:  This plan by Star Health Insurance Company is designed to look after the medical needs of individuals above the age of 60 years. The plan covers the cost of health check-up for every claim-free year (up to the limits specified) and also provides coverage for modern treatments such as Uterine artery embolisation and HIFU, Deep Brain Stimulation, Intravitreal injections, Robotic surgeries, etc.

Care Senior Health Insurance Plan: Care Senior is a comprehensive health insurance plan that provides coverage to aged individuals against rising medical expenses. There are various types of add-ons available within the plan such as co-payment waiver, no claim bonus super, etc.  It also covers the expenses of alternate treatments up to Rs. 20,000.

Bajaj Allianz Silver Health Plan: Keeping the healthcare needs of senior citizens in mind, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company designed Silver Health to meet the healthcare needs of elderly people in every manner. The plan offers a cumulative bonus of 10% of the sum insured for every claim-free year (up to a maximum of 50% of the sum insured). One can avail a discount of 5%  if two or more members are covered. 

Tata AIG MediSenior: The MediSenior launched by Tata AIG General Insurance Company caters to the medical needs of those citizens who are above the age of 60 years and offers several benefits to them. The policyholder can avail a discount of 7.5% on the policy premium if they pre-pay their premium for two years. The plan also provides coverage for up to 140 days for care procedures that do not need hospitalisation. 

Aditya Birla Activ Care:  This plan by Aditya Birla Health Insurance Company is designed to cater to the healthcare needs of people above the age of 60. The plan comes in three variants- Standard, Classic & Premier, which allows the policyholder to choose as per their needs. It also offers a HealthyReturns program, where the policyholder can earn up to 21% of the premium.