6 Myths About Health Insurance Renewal

With the surging costs of healthcare, there are several advantages of insuring your health by buying the right plan. An emergency hospitalization can eat into your savings and a good health insurance plan can save you from that.

There are certain myths about health insurance that can prevent you from investing in one. Here are some of the common myths regarding health insurance and in particular, the renewal aspect of health insurance busted. This should help you make an informed decision while buying a health plan or while renewing your health insurance plan.

Myth 1: Cheap Renewal Premiums are the Best

While insuring your health, looking for a plan with cheap health insurance premium is not the right approach. The plans with low-cost renewal premium will offer only a few features. It is highly unlikely that you would come across two policies offering similar features with highly variable costs. If you do stumble upon such a scenario, it is likely that some features are not elaborated. For best results, it is always wise to compare policies before buying.

There are different versions of health insurance policies like the basic version and enhanced versions. While comparing two policies for benefits and features make sure you are comparing a basic version of a policy with only a basic version and not an enhanced version. A cheap premium should be the last factor to compare.

Myth 2: Failing To Renew The Policy Before The Due Date Leads To Leads To The Loss Of Benefits

The complete activity of your health policy status depends on the timely renewal of your health insurance plan.

Timely renewal of your health plan ensures:

• The continuity of your health plan
• All periods come under coverage without any break

If you are unable to renew the policy on the given last date, you can do it within 2 weeks of the expiry of the plan. In this time frame you will receive continuous coverage, even for the exclusive benefits like coverage for pre-existing diseases and coverage for the waiting period.

However, in this time frame (15 days after due date) you cannot avail benefits like the claim for any kind of treatment. To claim for treatment, your policy should be renewed by paying the premium amount due. This renewal can be done online like the online health insurance renewal or by visiting the closest branch of the insurance company.

Myth 3: All Benefits Are Applicable From The Day One Of Policy Renewal

Not all benefits of a policy are covered from day 1 of policy purchase or day 1 of the first renewal. The waiting periods of all benefits are covered in the policy documents. Being aware of these criteria can save you from an unnecessary rejection of health insurance claims.

The waiting period is a part of every health policy. Depending on the features of your policy, the claims against certain ailments (mentioned in your policy document) will not be paid in this period.

Most policies have these general rules in regard to claims and waiting period:

• For the first 30 days after you buy a policy, no diseases are covered (except accidental hospitalization)
• Some diseases get coverage only after a certain period
• Depending on the disease and the company the exclusion period can be anywhere from one year to five years
• Certain Pre-existing diseases are covered only after four or more years of no claims

Myth 4: Timely Renewal Of Your Premium Will Help In The Insurance Company Reimbursing All Costs

While timely renewal of your policy, be it online like the online health insurance renewal or offline, has its perks; it does not guarantee that all your costs will be reimbursed. Every health plan has its own sub-limits. For example, if the hospitalization charges are capped at 2% of the overall sum insured, only that amount will be reimbursed and the rest have to be borne by the insured.

It is not just the hospitalization charges; there are sub-limits on various other factors too like the purchase of certain medicines.

Myth 5: Online Renewal Of Health Insurance Policies Can Be Risky

Online purchase and online renewal (like the online Religare health insurance renewal) of health insurance policies have become the order of the day. Online payment of health insurance premiums have been introduced for customer convenience and the terms of usage are same as an offline purchase or renewal.

Online health insurance renewal offers the advantage of lower premium as there is no involvement of a middleman or his commission. Any queries will be answered promptly by the customer care team.

Online renewal is absolutely safe and convenient.

Myth 6: Prompt Renewal of Health Insurance Plan is Only To Save Tax

Most Indians view a health plan as a tax saving instrument. Prompt renewal of your health plan, online like the online health insurance renewal or offline does help you save tax but that is not the sole purpose of the health plan.

A health plan is primarily a tool to save you from medical emergencies and renewal of the plan (like the online Religare health insurance renewal) is to extend your protection and coverage.