Covid-19 scare and other triggers to review your health insurance coverage

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The rising Covid-19 scare and the prohibitive hospitalization costs have made many people take a look at their existing health insurance cover or consider buying one if not purchased yet.

However, news of such sudden health emergencies and pandemics should not be the only time when you should review your health cover to assess its adequacy. You should review it at periodic intervals to assess whether the cover needs to be hiked and course-correct accordingly. “The health insurance policy should be reviewed on an annual basis at the time of renewal in order to make significant changes in the portfolio depending upon the changing health conditions,” Naval Goel, Founder, and CEO, PolicyX.com said.

Here are some reasons and triggers that should prompt you to review your health insurance cover:

Rising medical costs

The incessant medical inflation is one of the principal factors to review your health insurance cover. The massive Covid-19 treatment costs have recently made people doubly aware of this aspect. “Medical costs keep escalating on a regular basis including doctors’ fee, medicine cost, hospital room rent and etc. Hence, the policy coverage should be kept in sync with medical inflation so that it is able to cover maximum expenses,” Goel said.

Changing health condition

Some triggers that should prompt a review of the health cover are age and health conditions of the individual. As one age, the overall health condition generally deteriorates. New diseases such as those related to blood pressure, diabetes, heart conditions, etc start showing up. The health conditions should be covered by the policy and the total cover should be hiked considering the medical costs associated with the treatment of such diseases. The coverage can come in the form of riders for comprehensive coverage.

New addition into the family

The other trigger to review your health cover should be a new member joining the family. This could be a spouse or a newborn baby. “It is advised to cover all your family members under health insurance. The policy type and coverage should be planned accordingly which provides the complete coverage to the additional member as well,” Goel said.

Change in regulations

Do check the policy terms and conditions once again. Over the last two years, standardization norms have led to changes in policy coverage. While complying with the directives given by the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India (IRDAI), some insurance companies have raised the premium. You should review your policy and conduct a cost-benefit analysis.

If you are looking for high sum assured, especially at a time when the Covid case count is going up, then you may also want to explore some top-up health insurance policies.

If you are not satisfied with the existing health insurance company, then you may want to port it to a new health insurance company at the time of renewal.