Some Health Insurance Jargons

By Author: Radhika Adsule
Total Articles: 3
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Health is a gift of life that encourages you to work continuously without any breaks. It would be best to safeguard it by exercise, sleep patterns, diet, regular check-ups, etc. By taking care of your health, you rarely fall ill or suffer from other ailments. But life is unpredictable and puts us in financial crises without warning. Hence, we need to prepare ourselves beforehand.

Health Insurance protects you from spending a considerable amount behind the medical treatment. The treatment and hospitalisation costs are soaring because of constant innovations in the healthcare industry. It is important and beneficial to buy a policy for yourself and your family for enhanced protection.

Some key terms

When you buy Medical Insurance from a company through their branch or website, you come across several terms in the agreement forms. It is better to gain knowledge on them to choose the best scheme in the market.

Assignee

It is the person who receives benefits from the policy, including you and your family members. Whoever receives coverage ...
... under the plan are assignees and enjoy the privilege of free health check-ups and other services provided by the company.

Claim

When you pay a certain amount from your pocket for medical expenses despite having a plan, you claim it from the company by submitting relevant details on the form.

Co-payment

It is the cost-sharing requirement under the Health Policy. In some instances, the policyholder agrees to bear a certain percentage of the hospital bill per the policy conditions. In doing so, the insurance company charges a lesser premium. The sum insured remains the same. This feature is more likely available in a senior citizen plan.

Cumulative bonus

It is similar to the No Claim Bonus (NCB). For every claim-free year, the sum insured increases by a fixed percentage per the policy. The limit is not more than 50% of the sum insured. It applies only to policies renewed continuously.

Deductible

The higher the deductible amount in Health Insurance Plans, the lesser the premium. A deductible is a cost-sharing requirement, a fixed amount or a percentage of the claim. You do not receive it from the company. It is your liability to pay the contracted deductible amount to the hospital.

Sum insured

The pay-out amount that the Health Insurance company is liable to pay you in case of an unfortunate incident is known as the sum insured. For instance, where the sum insured is Rs 3 lakh under insurance, and the hospitalisation expenses are Rs. 2 lakh, the company is liable to pay Rs 2 lakh towards the claim.

Grace period

Remember to renew the plan from a General Insurance provider whenever the premium payment is due. The specified period of 15 days immediately after the expiry of the premium payment due date is the grace period. You pay the premium to renew the plan without losing out on benefits such as waiting periods, pre-existing illness coverage, etc.