Health cover options for fathers based on age, working status

In many cases, the father is the sole breadwinner (though this is changing with changing times), the need for an adequate health insurance cover gets amplified.

“As a responsible father, one must purchase adequate health insurance cover depending on one’s life-stage/needs/risk-taking ability paying ability,” said Sanjay Datta, chief-Underwriting, Claims Reinsurance, ICICI Lombard General Insurance.

Hence, individuals (fathers) can purchase various health covers as per their age/life stage. The two important features of health insurance that fathers should look at as per their age bracket are:

Before retirement: Wellness programmes

“If you are a middle-aged father, you must make the maximum utilisation of the wellness programmes which includes participation successful completion of marathon/ various other fitness activities. The idea behind the same is to lead an active, fit healthy lifestyle that will prevent/ delay the onset of lifestyle diseases that are common in old age. There are also rewards aligned to the wellness programmes that can be utilised by the customers,” said Datta. “One can also opt for sum insured protector, which increases the sum insured as per prevailing inflation rate, which is a pertinent feature for a middle-aged person looking to have adequate cover with advancing age.”

Insurers also award the no claim bonus/additional sum insured for every claim-free year.

After retirement: OPD health plan

Fathers who are senior citizens must purchase an out-patient department (OPD) plan so as to minimise their out-of-pocket expenses receive out-patient care to maintain their health. Additionally, they can also opt for claim protector cover which will reduce the out-of-pocket expenses by minimising deductions in the event of an in-patient claim.

The selection of a health insurance cover is driven by one’s needs/ risk-taking ability, Datta said, “For an elderly father, having an out-patient cover is a prudent decision in order to minimise the out-of-pocket expenses. For a young father, having a family floater cover, covering one’s child is necessary.”

Mint’s Takeaway

As a well-informed buyer of health insurance, one should evaluate one’s needs go through the policy construct before purchasing the policy. This will help them enable prudent decision making avoid surprises in the event of a claim.