Many of you may very likely have a life insurance policy that you bought at the insistence of a nagging insurance agent neighbour. But how well protected are you from the rising cost of healthcare and hospitalisation — through a health insurance cover?

Given the inflation in medicare costs, it is vitally important that you have a health insurance policy that will pay the medical bills that you are likely to run up. A health insurance policy will ensure that your financial planning doesn’t go awry when you suffer a serious illness or require hospitalisation for other reasons.

The current costs of a few medical procedures underscore the need for health insurance: cardiovascular procedures cost upwards of ₹1.5 lakh. The cost of treating cancer in the initial stages is ₹1-3 lakh and for nervous disorders, you might have to pay ₹80,000-90,000. If you don’t have health insurance cover, you will be compelled to dip into your savings to pay for medical expenses. This will shatter your dream of a happy retired life.

We try to make the daunting task of choosing a health policy a little easier for you by suggesting what people of different age groups should look for when buying one.

The three categories of people considered here are (a) a young individual in the 30s (b) two families, of which one is relatively young — a 30-plus male with spouse and two kids — and the second is relatively an older — a 40-plus male with spouse and grown-up children; and (c) a senior citizen. The analysis here is for indemnity plans (also called mediclaim policies). Data for private insurers was taken from policybazaar.com and verified.

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