Health insurance: Planning to expand the coverage? Make note of these 5 key factors

livemint.com:

health insurance policy during this time of the year? Is this the time of the year when you loosen your purse strings for next year’s medical insurance policy? Well, if this is the case then you might as well use this as the opportune moment to examine the size of policy coverage? With inflation, the cost of medical expenses goes higher, thus rendering the existing policy inadequate if the size of your insurance cover — when you first bought — was barely adequate . Let us suppose, someone bought a medical insurance policy with ₹5 lakh coverage three years ago. That time, ₹5 lakh sum was perhaps enough for him/her.

But now, the circumstances have undergone a change. Haven’t they? Inflation has risen, the insured has become three years older, and her income has also perhaps risen, which means she can now afford to pay a higher premium. Considering all these factors together, one can consider expanding the insurance cover.

And if you are contemplating to do this, it is recommended to consider the following factors: Make note of these factors if you are planning to expand your insurance cover: 1. Expand the policy size: In view of inflation and your growing age, you should ideally explore expanding the insurance cover. For instance, if your policy offers a coverage of ₹5 lakh and you think you should now expand it to ₹8 lakh, then you are perhaps thinking on the right lines.

A little extra premium outgo will help you widen your safety net. 2. Critical illness cover: This can be bought as a rider or as a standalone policy.