manoj aswani
is VP at MyInsuranceClub.com
I am 31 years old and my wife is 29 year old. I want to buy a medical policy for both of us, for say a sum insured of Rs. 4 to 5 Lakhs. My wife is pregnant currently and we are expecting the deliver in 4 odd months. Should I take a policy now and then add our child’s name or do we wait till the child is born and then take a policy? Also is there a chance that they will cover the maternity expenses. Is there a provision to add my child in the policy which is provided by the insurance company? Please suggest some policies too.
Suryakant Joshi, Dadar West
You can take a family health insurance policy now and once the child is born, he/she can be added to your existing policy as a new member. The insurance company keeps a provision in family health plans to add new members in the policy. The policies that you can take are:
1. Max Bupa Heartbeat Plan- it covers new born children from birth. The child needs to be included right after birth within the same plan. This plan can also be purchased online.
2. HDFC Ergo Health Suraksha – Again a good family floater policy, to meet your requirements.
3. Royal Sundaram Alliance Health Shield Policy - Dependent Children between 91 days and under 18 years of age are also covered. Hence the child needs to be included within this policy after he or she completes 91 days
Some other plans are – Apollo Munich Easy Health, Tata AIG Wellsurance Family, etc.
However, in India, maternity expenses are paid only after a minimum waiting period of 12 months. Hence, if your wife is already pregnant, maternity expenses needs to be borne by you, but as soon as the child is born, he or she can be included within the same family floater plan.
I am looking for a family floater health insurance with an investment option as SBI is giving. I should get the premium back at the end of the term if no claim has been made. Please inform me with the details of which other companies are giving such packages.
Birjunath Chaurasiya, Gamdevi
Usually people opt for health insurance policies which do not give any money back in case there is no claim made during the year. Such policies are popularly known as mediclaim insurance in the market. These are health insurance policies offered by non-life insurance companies. It is good to have one such policy that covers the entire family. Few of the life insurance companies have started offering health plans which have the feature of returning some amount on maturity. This is because they split the premiums paid by you into two parts – one for the health insurance cover and other for investment purpose. This enables them to pay you back the money.
We strongly recommend to keep these two requirements separate and not to mix health insurance with any kind of investment plans. However, if you still wish to avail plans which return back certain portion of the premiums, then here is a list of such plans:
— Aviva Health Plus
— Tata AIG Life Health Investor
— LIC Health Protection Plus Plan
— ICICI Prudential Health Saver
What mode of premium should I choose for my life insurance policy? I can comfortably pay the annual premium, but then is there an advantage in any of the other modes, ie. monthly, quarterly or half yearly?
Sanam Pheroz, Byculla
Insurance companies calculate their base premium based on annual premium rate. And then they decide the rate for other modes like half-yearly, quarterly and monthly modes. So when added together the total premium for one year of any of the other modes may be more than the annual premium (if paid yearly). Add to it the hassle of going to the branch every 3 months or 6 months only to pay the premium. This also creates room for delay in paying the premium. Hence, It is always better that one chooses the yearly mode of premium payment.