5 Common Medical Insurance Plan Mistakes to Avoid!
3 min readThe job of a health insurance policy is to offer you financial assistance during a medical emergency. If it’s not offering you what you wanted, either you have enrolled in a wrong plan, or you are committing some health insurance plan mistakes.
Thus, when you go ahead, and buy a health insurance policy, it is always better to review your needs and the risk coverage that you can afford for the amount not insured.
In other words, conducting relevant research regarding the benefits and features of the plan including the coverage and premium is vital to avoid paying from your pockets.
In the context of the discussion, here are some common health insurance plan mistakes that you must keep off while deciding to finalize a policy.
- Providing wrong health-related information
Sometimes policyholders provide wrong information in the proposal form such as not mentioning when they have a pre-existing condition as it leads to higher premium. However, what they are unaware of is, that insurance companies are prudent enough to check out their medical history inside out. Even if they miss, there is nothing to rejoice as a doctor may find that an ailment existed before acquiring the health insurance. In such cases, the insurance premium may go up and policyholders may also lose their coverage.
- Not checking if your preferred medical service is in the network
Cashless hospitalization is a unique facility that helps you avail the treatment at a hospital while the expenses are settled directly between the insurer and the hospital. Thus, a hospital being included in the list is vital. Ensure to check that your preferred hospital is covered under the network of a hospital of the insurer or not. Before finalizing a service provider, make sure to check this facility and avoid regretting later.
- Offering more premiums to save co-pay
Co-payment is the figure of hospital expenses that an insurer has to give from his/her own pocket during the course of treatment and before claiming the insurance benefit from the service provider. Some insurance products may have flat co-pay structure while some offer it after a particular age with some of them available in non-network hospitals and multiple treatment period. People, for getting low co-pay, overlook extra premium that they pay for the medical insurance policy. Thus, it’s always good to review the need of extra cost of premium for the co-pay, and opt for a relevant plan.
- When you are over insured
Did you know that getting all types of coverage and riders that are not needed is another major mistake that people make while buying a medical insurance policy? Yes, getting the required coverage does not mean ogling overboard and also being too cautious! Hence, you should strike a balance by getting just enough coverage to keep health-related financial blues away.
Checkout the Factors to Consider While Deciding a Health Insurance Coverage.
- When you don’t review your existing health insurance plan
Not evaluating the current health insurance plan could also become a costly affair while getting insurance coverage. Thus, ensure to do an inside-out review of your existing scheme as it will help you know what’s required in the new plan. Else, you may get too much coverage or not, and pay high premium charges.
The Bottom Line
When you plan to buy a health insurance plan, ensure to check the discussed pitfalls so that you know the risk that you can afford, and also avoid under/over insured. If you are still unsure, it’s good to consult a known insurance expert to help you out!