5 Ways Senior Citizens Can Reduce Their Health Insurance Premium – News18
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Seniors can adopt smart strategies to reduce their health insurance costs without compromising coverage. Here are some effective ways to make medical insurance more affordable in old age.
Compare plans to find the most affordable senior health insurance.
Health insurance is crucial for everyone, especially senior citizens, as healthcare costs continue to rise. Without coverage, older adults risk depleting their retirement savings due to unexpected medical expenses, which can run into several lakhs for just a few days of hospitalisation. However, seniors can adopt smart strategies to reduce their health insurance costs without compromising coverage. Here are some effective ways to make medical insurance more affordable in old age.
Get Started Early:
The premiums will be minimal if one begins early. It will be much less expensive to purchase health insurance at age 30 than it will be to do so at age 60. Additionally, policies provide a no-claim incentive, which could range from 5 per cent to 10 per cent year for no claims. With multi-year coverage, you can also save money on premiums. Three-year prices can be discounted by up to 15 per cent.
Compare Various Plans:
When purchasing insurance, comparison is crucial. Compare plans to find the most affordable senior health insurance. It is now simple to compare different plans because of digitisation. Senior health insurance plans are now available from many insurance companies. Online comparisons of different insurers’ products are possible. You can purchase the most affordable senior health insurance by comparing plans. Select a plan based on your needs and financial constraints.
Select Deductible and Co-Pay:
Choosing deductibles and co-pays is another strategy to control premiums. Deductible indicates that you must pay a specific amount out of pocket before the insurer will pay your claim. As a result, you will be responsible for paying the Rs 5 lakh deductible if your claim is for Rs 3 lakh. In contrast, you will pay Rs 5 lakh and the insurance will pay Rs 3 lakh for a claim of Rs 8 lakh. Co-pay functions similarly, however it is calculated as a percentage. For instance, you pay Rs 40,000 and the insurer pays the remaining amount if the cost is Rs 2 lakh with a 20 per cent co-pay.
Both of these options can significantly lower premiums for senior citizens by lowering the insurer’s liability.
Get A Super Top-Up With A Base Plan:
Purchasing a super top-up plan is an additional method of lowering premiums. Super top-up insurance is a kind of policy that offers more coverage than what is offered by an existing basic health insurance plan.
Super top-up insurance operates as follows: Let’s say you have a basic health insurance policy with a Rs 3 lakh sum insured. The super top-up insurance policy will take effect and pay the remaining amount beyond the threshold if your medical bills surpass this cap.
For instance, the base health insurance will pay the first Rs 3 lakh and the super top-up policy will pay the remaining Rs 4 lakh if you have a super top-up policy with a deductible of Rs 3 lakh and you have medical bills totalling Rs 7 lakh.
Eat Healthy, Stay Fit And Reduce Premiums:
Plans for health insurance promote fitness and preventative medical care, which can result in lower rates. A minimum number of steps per day and regular health examinations are recommended. A healthy body mass index (BMI) can even be beneficial. As a result of the decreased risk of hospitalisation and chronic illness, everyone benefits.
