Leave Everything and Buy a Health Insurance: A Beginners Guide

This was posted by Ritik Singh on 12th June on our FinTalks Facebook Group.

Don’t Have Health Insurance? For god’s sake, leave everything aside and buy health insurance.

Please buy health insurance cover for you and your family, especially elders. I have a friend. His father never bought life insurance- all they did was buy some bogus LIC policies.

They never paid attention to insurance- this is what most Indians do since they’re under a false assumption that nothing will happen to them. This is the very same reason why most people don’t buy term insurance- because it is based on the presumption that you’re going to die and nobody likes to talk about it- most people are hesitant.

By the time my friend got aware of buying health and term insurance, his father was already diagnosed with a major disease. And now, he’s having problems getting insurance.

Every one or the other day, they’re running to hospitals with some new or other issues. Rising hospitality costs, the frustration, the tension of the disease have hit very hard and out of nowhere.

See, I just want to say that problems don’t knock on the door. Healthcare is a big joke in India- we don’t even rank in the top 100 countries, and you might have already seen the state in current times of COVID.

The cost of quality health care in India is skyrocketing. The urban hospitals will suck every penny out of you and is enough to give a big blow over your finances.

An unexpected health issue of you or your family members can cost you all your life-long savings. You may have to sell your assets like property, mutual funds, stocks, gold, deposits, etc. Even worse, you may get into a vicious cycle of debt while trying to pay for the hospitalization cost.

So, please buy health insurance for you and your family until it’s late. Also, buy term insurance for the earning member of your family. Don’t buy ULIPs or Endowment plans- treat insurance like insurance, and not investment.

While buying health insurance, you can consider the following:

  • Claim Settlement Ratio

  • Claim Amount Settlement Ratio

  • Does the Company Serve Cashless facility at Nearby Hospitals?

  • Room Rent Limit? Co-Payment?

  • Does it Cover Certain Critical Illness?

  • Waiting Period, etc., etc., etc.

Look, choosing the right health insurance is very tiresome, and I’m not an expert. You need to go through the detailed terms and conditions. We’ve already done an entire Clubhouse session on health insurance.

What I’m saying is, please do some research and get good health insurance. Online or through an agent- your wish, choose what comforts you more.

I’m attaching a few threads and videos below which can be helpful for you:

  1. What are the things to look for in a Health Insurance Policy?
  2. Buying Health Insurance (verify these facts)
  3. Buying Health Insurance Experience: Twitter Thread by Vinay Mimani
  4. How to Find the Best Health Insurance Policy for You
  5. Avoid these mistakes while buying Health Insurance
  6. Buying Health Insurance Checklist
  7. Freefincal Health Insurance Playlist

If you have any other useful links that helped you, please drop them in the comments below. We have many experts in the group; you can ask any questions you want through posts.

Pardon me for any mistakes. Please DYOR.

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