Health Insurance

Quick disclosure: My family has been in the insurance business for over 3 decades, these are my observations and understandings.

A good health insurance plan needs to have 3 things

1. Adequate coverage (25 L should be more than sufficient to begin with for your age)
2. Cumulative bonus: if you don’t claim in a year, then the coverage rolls over year over year.
3. Effectiveness of Cashless settlement- you don’t want to be paying out of pocket and then get reimbursed later. Ideally you want the health insurance company to settle with the hospital directly.

You can find a plan with all the above 3 features. Additionally you can take annual health checkup rider as well which should cost nominal amount and take a plan with 3 years of coverage as it overall costs less per year.

I understand that the premia on online portals are lower, but if possible try and get the plan from an offline source - preferably someone who lives in the same city as you or someone who can personally coordinate with the hospitals to get you what you deserve and paid for. My mother handles this side of the business personally and this makes the biggest difference especially for families who don’t know who to turn to in such situations. Policybazaar RMs can be hit or miss in this regard. Ability to coordinate with hospital representatives effectively of different cities is what you should look for in an agent.

If you have any more doubts, feel free to ask. Just check the claim settlement ratio as well. 85%+ is considered standard.