Top 6 tips for choosing health insurance when your parents are senior citizens

Our parents invest all their time, energy and resources to help us have a good life. They strive to raise us to be kind, hardworking and independent adults. It becomes a lot easier for us to navigate our personal and professional lives because of their guidance. To honour their roles in our lives, every year, the fourth Sunday of July is celebrated as National Parents Day.

We know that our parents cherish all our achievements. This Parents Day let us take out some time to think about making it a special day to celebrate their lives. While many retire from their professional lives, there are a lot of things that might cause them worry. The primary concern sometimes becomes the higher risks of falling sick and contracting diseases that comes with age. This might bring along some financial stress.

With the rise in medical costs and additional healthcare issues affording quality care might become challenging. Getting an effective health plan for your parents, that will help them live an emotionally and financially stress-free life, is a good choice. Here are a few tips you can keep in mind while considering an optimum health insurance cover for your parents:

1. Opt for a trusted insurer – An insurance partner you can rely on in the event of a medical emergency should be your first priority. Look for a brand that you can trust the most with regards to customer service and claim settlement.

2. Start Early – Buy a health plan for your parents at early age, to avoid any restrictions related to age. As a general rule, premiums tend to increase with advancing age.

3. Ensure timely renewals of the policy – As long as you renew your parents’ health insurance policy in time, you can be assured of lifelong coverage. Hence, keep a track of renewal dates and ensure timely payment of premiums. Always opt for an auto renewal option for peace of mind.

4. Pre-existing illnesses – Make sure that you go through the policy conditions carefully to check for coverage of pre-existing conditions which would be covered after a prescribed waiting period (usually 36 to 48 months). The waiting period for pre-existing conditions might commence afresh if you do not renew the policy in time and this is especially tricky in the case of senior citizens.

5. Invest in Critical illness coverage – There are many diseases like cancer, diabetes, heart-stroke which are hard to handle not only emotionally but financially also. Usually a critical illness management requires a longer care, for which Critical Illness plan is best, as it provides a lumpsum amount on the first diagnosis of the illness. Thereby safeguard yourself and your parents from the financial burden of any critical diseases.

6. Adequate sum insured – Depending on where you live, make sure that the coverage you select in terms of sum insured is adequate. In a metro where hospitalisation expenses can be high, you should weigh the sum insured well. Also, review the sum insured periodically and increase it, if necessary, so that you are always adequately protected in the event of a medical emergency.

Having a health plan for your parents is one of the wisest decisions you can make. It not only protects them but also provides various benefits such as tax-saving and annual health check-ups. Having a Family Floater health plan for your parents is one of the wisest decision you can make. Today happens to be the best day to gift them with a good health plan.

By Amar Joshi, Chief Business Officer, SBI General Insurance