With rising medical costs, an unforeseen medical emergency can set a person back with exorbitant medical bills associated with hospitalisation. It is here where a medical insurance could be of immense help whereby the cost of medical expenses can be paid by an insurance company to the hospital directly. This facility is known as cashless settlement. Where the hospital does not support cashless settlement, the insured person initially pays the hospital bills and later on recovers the hospitalisation expenses from the insurance company after filing a claim application.
While choosing a medical insurance policy, care must to be taken to evaluate on a minimum the following points:
- Types of medical ailments included / excluded by the policy;
- Coverage for pre-existing diseases;
- Cover for pre & post hospitalisation expenses;
- No claim bonus terms;
- Reputation of the insurance company and ease of filing a claim;
- Support for cashless settlement of expenses;
- Number of hospitals supporting the cashless claims.
For more details, please refer to our blog note ‘Medical Insurance – Health Is Wealth’.