Manoj Aswani is VP at MyInsuranceClub.com
I am 36 year old male and looking to cover myself and my wife aged 31 with Health cover plans and Critical Illness. Please give some suggestions for taking the right plan (Mediclaim) and whether it’s best to take from general insurance players or life insurance players with Maternity Benefit? Should one take CI (critical illness cover) policy separately or clubbed with Mediclaim as rider?
—Jay Bhuvan, Khar
It totally depends on your requirement whether you need a health plan from a General Insurance Company or from a Life Insurance Company.
Family Floater Plans for Self and Spouse:
1. Apollo Munich Optima Restore Health Insurance Plan- In this Plan, the Sum Assured gets restored after the same is exhausted.
2. Tata AIG Wellsurance Family Health Insurance
3. Chola MS Family Health Insurance Plan
4. National Insurance Mediclaim Policy
Plan for Self:
You can opt for Max Bupa Heartbeat Insurance Plan where anyone from birth to death can be covered and you would also get maternity benefits but after 2 years on waiting. But, in this plan, 1st year child vaccination would also be covered.
Other Plans for Maternity:
Star Health Wedding Gift Insurance Policy and Apollo Munich Easy Health Insurance Plan
There are some basic differences between a Critical Illness Plan and a Critical Illness Rider:
1. Standalone Critical Illness Plan – Such a plan can be bought from any general insurer. It provides coverage for only critical illnesses. Unlike critical illness riders on life insurance plans, standalone policies do not provide a death benefit.
2. Critical Illness Rider – A critical illness rider can be clubbed with your existing life or health insurance plan. In the case of a life insurance plan, the policyholder can benefit from a death benefit or a critical illness benefit. When added on to a health plan, the critical illness benefit could come as a lump sum even as the health coverage takes care of other medical expenses under its purview.
Which insurance policy should I buy for myself and my joint family? I am 41 years old, Wife 38 years and I have 1 son aged 12 years and a daughter aged 8 years. I also need a plan for my father 62 years, mother 58 years and brother 37 and brother’s wife 35. It would be great if I can take 1 single plan for all of us instead of opting for 2-3 plans separately. Kindly guide the best plan where everything will be taken care of and I have nothing to worry about later as well.
—Ramesh Singh, Dombivali
Considering all factors, the best option for your entire Joint Family would be Max Bupa Heartbeat Family First Plan for your family. It covers individuals from birth to death and all day care procedures as well for 13 relationships and upto 50 people. This plan has been formed keeping the Joint Indian Family in mind.
This plan is a combination of Individual + Floater Plan, i.e. if you opt for say 1+5 Lacs coverage for your family under Family First Plan, your entire family will get Rs 5 Lacs of Floater Coverage as well as each individual will have Rs 1 Lac of individual coverage. Thus, it is a unique combination and one of a kind in the industry. This plan has no sub limits, covers all hospitalization and day care procedure and has direct claim settlement with no third party intervention. This policy can be continued lifelong with guaranteed renewability.
(The author is Vice President at www.MyInsuranceClub.com, insurance comparison website in India. You may write to him at [email protected])