What’s your pick for the Best Health Insurance Company in India and why?

What Is Mediclaim and How Is It Different from Health Insurance?

That's a good question! Mediclaim was originally a term for health insurance, but over the years it has become an "old-fashioned term". Mediclaim essentially means that, while all Mediclaim products are considered health insurance, not all health insurance is a Mediclaim product.

What Does Mediclaim Typically Cover?

In general, Mediclaim was used as a generic term to describe a type of insurance that covers hospitalization costs associated with treatment in a hospital. Mediclaims were often viewed as the "basic" or "lowest-level" type of insurance you can buy today, and it would have covered only hospitalization costs-related items like a room, surgical procedure, or similar.

Limitations of Traditional Mediclaim Policies

Mediclaim can typically have hidden reductions (limits) in benefits. Mediclaim policies are very well known to have maximum benefit limits or sub-limits, e.g., "room accommodation not exceeding 1% of the total insured amount." Meaning, when you elect to stay in a room with a higher rental rate, that can result in a reduction in your other hospital-related and treatment costs (i.e. surgeon's and anesthesiologist's fees, ICU charges, pharmacy, etc). If you have a good modern Health Insurance Policy, it has no such restrictions.

What Do Modern Health Insurance Plans Cover?

Modern Health Plans are more than just inpatient care; they are broader. Things that a modern health plan will cover include:

• Day Care Surgery (Chemo, Dialysis) without needing to be admitted for 24 hours.
• Pre- & Post-Hospitalisation Costs for 60 to 90 days before/after a hospital stay.
• A Critical Illness payout for diagnosed cancer or heart attack that a standard Mediclaim Policy will never give you.

Additional Benefits of Modern Health Plans

Better Built-in Protection - Automatic Restoration (Once you have used your total (sum insured), it will automatically restore so that you can use it again) and No Claim Bonus (if you don’t make a claim you will receive an increase to your total sum insured) are two of the main features of a solid health plan today, versus a traditional Mediclaim Policy.

Is Mediclaim Still Relevant?

Is Mediclaim Relevant? The answer is yes; the way that medical insurance works is as necessary today as it ever was. So, the old Mediclaim policies restrict consumers and are therefore obsolete.

Choosing the Right Health Insurance Policy

Instead of going from Mediclaim to Health Insurance, you should be going from a basic/limited coverage plan to a comprehensive and well-featured Health Insurance Policy. Therefore, do not look only at the label (Mediclaim vs. Health Plan), but pay attention to what a policy covers and how it fits with your current lifestyle, health insurance should be your partner to cover you both financially and holistically!