Why health insurance is important for senior citizens?
Senior citizens want to spend the rest of their lives happily after retirement. At this age, they remain vulnerable to diseases and also worry about the money that goes into diseases. If you want your aged parents to live a safe, worry-free and happy post-retirement life, you should get their health insurance done for this. Health insurance plan is the best way to take good care of them at this age. After the age of 60, the health of people starts declining and the chances of getting diseases also increase. With increasing inflation, the cost of treatment is also increasing, so in this situation it is best to take a health insurance plan for senior citizens. Therefore, through this article, we are going to tell you why health insurance scheme is important for senior citizens.
Why Health Insurance Scheme is Important for Senior Citizens?
Health insurance scheme is necessary for senior citizens for the following reasons –
Risk of diseases increases with increasing age Health insurance is a must for senior citizens, as the risk of diseases increases significantly with increasing age. Also, till the time of retirement, people take advantage of the health insurance provided by the company in which they work, but their cover ends after retirement. Staying without health insurance at this age can be a loss deal for senior citizens.
No longer worry about medical expenses – Senior citizens are at greater risk of diseases. They are also prone to many serious diseases, which cost a lot in treatment. Family members and senior parents continue to worry about money for treatment of their illnesses, because at this age they have no means of income and do not want to be a burden on the family. In such a situation, if they have health insurance, then they and the family will not be worried about medical expenses and they will be able to live life happily.
Debt avoidance It is not necessary that everyone has enough money, in such a situation, if a senior gets a major illness, then the family also gets treatment by taking loans from banks, moneylenders or relatives. This also puts an economic crisis on you. It takes years to repay the loan and you also have to pay a lot of money as its interest. If senior citizens have health insurance, then you will not need a loan, because the insurance companies bear the cost of treatment.
Port group insurance to individual insurance
Most senior citizens or children seek an appropriate insurance cover for their parents to avoid such problems. But the price and terms of insurance policies disappoint them. Insurance companies are reluctant to offer insurance plans to senior citizens even with higher premiums, as insurance companies believe that diseases occur at an older age and in this situation they may have to face higher and higher claims. At the same time, insurance companies also reject the applications of senior citizens who have diseases like high diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol etc. If you want to protect your parents, the best way to do this is to port their existing group insurance plan to a personal insurance plan. Because individual plans offer policyholders lifetime renewal as well as other benefits such as no claim bonus and wellness benefits.
Can buy new health insurance policy
If your parents are not covered by the group insurance plan, then you will need to look for a new health insurance plan for your aged parents. Some insurance companies are nowadays offering health plans especially for senior citizens. You can choose any of these plans for your parents. These schemes have shorter waiting periods for pre-existing diseases. In these, the limit is fixed according to co-payment and diseases. Some schemes have a waiting period of one year as well as 50% co-payment facility for claims related to already existing diseases. Along with this, you can also take advantage of top-up health insurance plans. These plans provide additional coverage to individuals who already have a health insurance plan.
Statistics show that only 27% of Indians have health insurance plans. From this we can infer that very few senior citizens are covered under individual or family health insurance scheme. In view of increasing inflation and demand of time, we must ensure health insurance for ourselves and our elderly parents, so that we do not have to worry about money during a medical emergency.
