Secure Senior Citizens With Suitable Health Insurance Plans

While buying a health insurance plan for elderly parents, the biggest mistake committed by people is that they buy the same type of health care plan for them (above 60 years of age) as they do for themselves. Yes, it is incorrect because the health conditions, vulnerability, requirements, and recovery rate of senior citizens drastically differ from young people, and standard health insurance plans fail to cover this entirely. As a result, standard health insurance plans fail to provide complete financial support to senior citizens.

 Known as Senior Citizen Health Insurance, these plans provide coverage to individuals falling between the age of 60 and 80 years. The biggest advantage of Senior Citizen Health Insurance plans is that they permit the insurance to the people who are a late entrant to the health insurance category, along with other benefits such as low co-pay clause, low waiting period, and large coverage. These services aren’t offered in a standard health care policy.

 Before knowing about the available health care plans for senior citizens, there are a few parameters to be considered before zeroing upon a health care plan, such as-

 No waiting period

Every policy has a set timeline of waiting period for the pre-existing diseases where the coverage for already carrying aliments starts after a period of time from the date of the policy issued. While this is common amongst all policies; a smart move is to select a policy that has the shortest waiting period.

 Free medical check-ups

In old age, the doctor’s visit and its related medical check-ups are quite regular and can be expensive as well. Hence, the right health care plan for senior citizens is the one that offers complimentary medical checkups to the insured.

 Less co-payment

Co-payment is an amount to be paid by the insured to the insurer at the time of a claim. Since having a regular fixed income is not assured in old age, therefore, the health care plan for senior citizens must ask for a less co-payment to easily operate the policy.

 Since the premium payment tenure is less and the coverage requirement is high in the case of a senior citizen insurance plan, choosing accurate coverage can be challenging. But how to do that? Here are the points to evaluate-

 Age- Senior citizens have many medical requirements which demand a health care plan offering high coverage. It means the premium should be decided based on health, conditions, pre-existing illnesses, and the requirement of medical assistance.

 Medical history-  While old age automatically accompanies comorbidities, it is imperative to check the kind of illnesses the insured is suffering from to know the sufficient amount of the premium.

 Geographical location- Medical treatment cost and various charges associated with them differ with geographical location. An individual residing in a metropolitan city requires a bigger coverage than a person from tier I, II, or III cities.

 Finally, below given is the list of best Senior Citizen Health Insurance Plans.

 Star Health Senior Citizens Red Carpet Plan

 Star Health Senior Citizens Red Carpet Plan offers coverage to elderly people who are above 60 and look after their medical needs. With no pre-medical test required, the plan covers the cost of a health check-up for every claim-free year (up to the limits specified). It also provides coverage for modern treatments such as uterine artery embolisation and HIFU, deep brain stimulation, intravitreal injections, robotic surgeries, etc. The entry age of this is from 60-75 years with maximum coverage of Rs 25 lakh.

 Care Senior Health Insurance Plan

 Care Senior Health Insurance Plan is a comprehensive health insurance plan that provides coverage to individuals against hefty medical expenses in the second innings of life. With more than 15,500 network hospitals, one can avail of cashless hospitalization without worrying about the treatment expenses. Also, the plan comes with various add-ons such as co-payment waiver, no claim bonus super, among others. This plan permits the entry age from 61 years to lifelong with the highest coverage of Rs 10 lakh.

 Bajaj Allianz Silver Health Plan

 Keeping the health care needs of elders in mind, this plan functions to meet them in every manner. It provides a cumulative bonus of 10 per cent of the sum insured for every claim-free year (up to a maximum of 50 per cent of the sum insured). Along with this, the plan offers a family discount of 5 per cent if two or more members are covered. The entry age for this plan starts from 46 years to 70 years offering coverage till Rs 5 lakh.

 Tata AIG MediSenior

 Tata AIG MediSenior works to satisfy the health care needs of those citizens who are above the age of 60 years. It comes with benefits like a family discount, home treatment, among others. This plan gives coverage of Rs 50 lakh.

 Aditya Birla Activ Care

 The plan is designed to meet the health care needs of aged individuals. Along with health care check-up and coaching sessions by a personal health coach, the plan offers a Healthy Returns program, where one can earn up to 21 per cent of the premium. The plan comes in three variants --- Standard, Classic & Premier. The entry age for this plan is 55 years of age with maximum coverage of Rs 25 lakh.