The human resources cell at your company may have told you the company provides a mediclaim policy for employees.Is that reason enough to forgo buying a policy of your own?
Sure, the company has you covered. But that doesn’t mean it will take care of all your medical needs. For example, you may need a policy for diseases not covered by the company’s policy.
Therefore, don’tignore health insurance just because your employer is offering you a policy. Here are more reasons why:
Firstly, there’s the amount of cover offered. This would depend on your designation and sometimes, even the years you have served at the organisation.
Insurance brokers say most employers are choosing a cover up to Rs 1 lakh or less for most employees. Some are not offering cover to newly-enrolled employees. Also, if cover is offered, a majority of companies are asking the employee to pay a share of the amount being claimed post-hospitalisation.
An insurance cover of just Rs 1 lakh is not sufficient to
tide over a major surgery — hospital charges have being surging. Moreover, in case your company is one of those asking employees to share the insurance claim burden, then it makes sense to pay premium for a cover that is yours, rather then bear the hospital expenditure in case of a medical event.
Then there’s the period of transition. If you are about to change jobs, you will be left without an insurance cover until you are enrolled for the insurance programme of your new employer. And there, if your new employer does not offer mediclaim, you would
be left without cover, or need to buy a fresh policy. This could prove costly in the later run, as mediclaim premiums go up as you grow older.
Even if the new employer offers you a mediclaim, some insurance companies may keep an initial ‘waiting period’. During this time (about 90-180 days), no claims are accepted even though the policy would be in force.
As a result, you would have no cover from the time you leave an organisation until the initial no-claims period of the insurance policy with the new organisation (if any) gets over.
Also, most health insurance policies have a clause whereby pre-existing diseases are covered after 4-5 consecutive claims-less years. But with employees frequently switching jobs and mediclaim premium increasing steeply, many changes are being made to the insurance covers provided by companies. You would lose out on the benefits available for a person not making claims because you would have a break in the insurance policy due to the job switch.
As approach retirement, not only will you find employers reluctant to give you a mediclaim, but insurance companies will ask for higher premium as the probability of you making claims would increase.
So, choose an insurance cover from the several options available today, while health is on your side.
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