Benefits of Multiple Health Insurance Plans: Here’s Why You Should Have More Than One Mediclaim Policy

Rapidly rising medical costs in India has increased the importance to choose multiple health insurance plans. Having multiple health insurance plans can prove beneficial if the advantages provided by the two are favourable and outweigh the costs.

With the increase in lifestyle-related issues and the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of health insurance has increased. To ensure that you have adequate financial coverage at the time of a medical emergency, you can opt for multiple health insurance policies. With insurers like Tata AIG, you can buy health insurance online and secure yourself financially if a medical emergency arises.

For instance, suppose a plan does not cover a particular feature you require, then you can choose a different policy that covers the feature.

Here are some of the benefits of purchasing multiple health insurance plans.

Rejection of Claims

One of the advantages of being covered by multiple health insurance plans is that it protects against the rejection of claims. However, there are times when a health claim gets rejected, in which case, a second policy can work as a backup plan.

Getting covered under multiple policies minimises the risk of claim rejections. For example, if your claim gets rejected by one insurer, it may be accepted by the second insurer. Therefore, a second plan will prevent you from losing your entire claim.

A secondary insurance plan also comes in handy when the benefits of the first insurance plan have been exhausted. Though the secondary plan provides benefits over the primary ones, they have their limits. You have to be aware of the limits on their secondary insurance plan in the event of a fatal medical condition. But you can still avoid using your savings until you reach the limits on your secondary plan.

Better Coverage, Lower Premium

It is worth having multiple health insurance plans to add to a bigger coverage. Also, if you have more than one, it helps in reducing the overall cost. In a single plan with wider coverage, you pay more premium. But with multiple plans, you end up paying a lower premium.

Diversification

Another important benefit of multiple medical insurance plans is diversification across various insurance companies and policies. If the sum insured is lesser than the claim, the policyholder can claim the amount with any health insurance company. In addition, if you take two medical insurance policies, the cost of any pre-existing disease can also be covered by the insurers.

While choosing multiple medical insurance plans, you can purchase two different health insurance plans. One can be a pure comprehensive health insurance plan, while the other can be a critical illness policy.

Critical Illness

A critical illness cover provides coverage for specific diseases that might not be covered under the base health insurance policy. The critical illness plan provides a lump sum benefit if you are diagnosed with specific illnesses like cancer, kidney failure, etc., that are mentioned in the policy. Therefore, it is advisable to buy a base health plan and a second critical illness policy to maximise the coverage and lower the risks.

Few Pointers to Consider Before Buying More than One Policy

There are a few pointers that you need to consider when you are planning to buy more than one policy:

• Be careful: Read the policy documents of the two insurers carefully. This would help you determine which policy would be considered the primary policy and which would be considered the secondary policy.
• Calculate the premium: You must use the health insurance premium calculator to calculate the premiums of both plans. But, first, check if you can afford plans as the premium amount for both the plans might be expensive. You can opt for top-up health insurance at a lower premium if you do not wish to buy multiple insurance plans.
• Claim settlement ratio: Check the claim settlement ratio for both insurers. A higher claim settlement ratio means that the insurer is reliable and settles the claims quickly. You also need to understand the claim settlement process for both insurers.
• Health insurance portability: You might be familiar with the concept of health insurance portability. With health insurance portability, you can switch to a different plan if you are not happy with the services offered by your current insurer. While buying a secondary policy, you must keep an eye out for this.
• Lifetime renewability: You can opt for a plan with lifetime renewability. The healthcare costs increase with the increase in age as people are prone to more diseases at an older age. If you already have a plan that provides coverage until a fixed age, you can opt for a second plan with a lifetime renewability option.

Wrapping Up

Though it might sound repetitive, if you’re here, you surely know buying two health plans increases the sum assured at a lesser premium which is a boon for the policyholders. Also, there are tax benefits of health insurance that you can get with multiple policies. By coordinating health insurance benefits, multiple plans can work together to provide patients with hassle-free coverage for any additional medical payments without paying for the expenses from their pockets. The advantages of buying multiple health insurance plans cannot be overlooked, and if you can afford multiple plans, you must think about buying them.