Most of us consider employee health insurance as a secured cover for taking care of medical expenses. However, you must know that employer health insurance covers you only during your job tenure. Once you leave the company or switch jobs, you lose your health insurance benefits. Some companies do not offer health cover during initial probation period. Even if you have a valid corporate health cover it may offer a lower sum insured, lack modern medical coverage and may also ask you to co-pay for claims. Hence, always have a personal health insurance plan for yourself and your family to be double sure.

Just like you pay EMIs, credit card bills, invest in mutual funds or pay premium for life insurance plans to ensure a sound financial planning, similarly you need to buy a health insurance to secure your savings in the longer run. Because, most of us do not realize the importance of health insurance until something fatal hits us or people around us. Lack of awareness may hamper your savings if an unexpected medical expense comes up.

It is important to understand that you need a higher sum insured if you reside in a metro city where medical treatment expenses are high. If a single hospitalization in a year is enough to exhaust your sum insured then you should consider a higher sum insured. Just buying a health insurance won’t help in the long run. Getting a sum insured that’s enough to cover your medical expenses is equally important. Also, if you are covering more family members then consider taking a health insurance policy with a sum insured above 10 lacs.

Don’t just look at the premium and go back thinking if you should buy this health insurance plan. Looking at the list of coverage and benefits before buying a health insurance plan is important and should not be overlooked. If you think of buying a health insurance plan with a low premium then there are high chances that you may miss out critical coverage. In future, you may feel that certain coverage is important but your policy doesn’t cover it. Scout for a health insurance plan that is not just pocket friendly but also value for money.

Many of us buy health insurance just to save tax under section 80 D. A health insurance plan helps you save tax upto ₹ 75,000. However, there is a lot more beyond saving taxes. Get yourself a health insurance plan that helps you during critical times and helps in saving finances in the long run. You must also get a health insurance plan for your parents, spouse, and kids to ensure complete financial security.

If you are young, hale and hearty you should buy a health insurance plan now to get lower premiums. Secondly, if you do not make claims post buying a health insurance cover you get cumulative bonus, which gives you hike in sum insured without charging extra premium as a reward for staying fit. Thirdly, every health policy comes in with waiting period, so if you buy health insurance while you are young your waiting period gets over during the initial years. Later, if you have any disease your policy covers you seamlessly. Lastly, looking at the pandemic situation it’s not wrong to say that any one at any point of time may need hospitalisation if not due to ailment may be due to an accidental injury; hence it’s important to stay prepared.