Timely renewal of Mediclaim policy is crucial say insurance companies!
Missing your mediclaim renewal deadline can bring more trouble than forgetting your anniversary date or your spouse’s birthday. Here’s why you shouldn’t forget the renewal date of your mediclaim policy.
Some dates have special significance in our lives and we mark them in our planner, our office calendar and even on the cell phone. Our busy schedules can come in the way and we may forget those special dates but you cannot afford to forget your premium renewal dates and here are the reasons why you should remember them!
A mediclaim policy not only takes care of costs incurred during hospitalisation but also protects you from pre as well as post-hospitalisation expenses. Mediclaim provides a total cover for expenses in case of hospitalization. The longer the policy is kept, the better it serves you. A fresh policy doesn’t cover any pre-existing illness. “Not only that, if the policy is not renewed the insured will lose the no-claim bonus as well. Further, his policy will be treated as fresh policy and the first year exclusions will apply again,” says Mukesh Gupta, director, Wealthcare Securities, a financial advisory firm.
A very important aspect of mediclaim policy is that if you have made no claims on it for four consecutive years, you start getting covered for those pre-existing illnesses. The sum assured will be increased by 5-10 percent for every claim-free year,— that too without an increase in premiums.
A senior official from New India Assurance observes that “Most people are unaware of such benefits and that’s why they don’t attach much importance to renewal, little realising that all their hard work may go waste,”
Thus if the renewals are not made in time and if the insured has a health condition existing prior to taking the policy, requiring medical treatment, the same gets automatically excluded in the policy.
Correspondingly subsequent renewals ensures coverage of medical conditions prior to taking the policy and hence it is crucial to renew the policy without any break,”
Before April this year, policies covered pre-existing diseases after four claim-free years even if the policy was held with another insurance company. Under the current terms, policyholders need to be covered by the same insurer for at least four years.
Renewal of your mediclaim also becomes vital since the policy terms have become more stringent.
There are more reasons why you should keep continuing your existing policy. For starters, the premium rates have gone up considerably. Most insurance companies have hiked their premiums by 30 percent to 50 percent. “It simply means that not only will you lose out on benefits but also will have to pay a much higher price for being insured,” says Shreeraj Deshpande, head, Health Insurance, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance.
The list of diseases that are excluded from the purview of the policy has also been extended. Under the current policy, benign ENT disorders and surgeries such as tonsilectomy, adenoidectomy, mastoidectomy and tympanoplasty come under first-year exclusions. In case you’ve missed the renewal, it will require you to re-do the medical tests. “This leaves no option other than renewing your policy. Otherwise, you’ll start comparing the premium charged by various companies and decide accordingly,” adds Gupta.
Hence the mantra is “ Do not forget your renewal premium dates”