What Makes HDFC Ergo Health Insurance a Preferred Insurance Company?

Buying health insurance is a critical decision in everyone’s life as it allows you to be well prepared for unknown medical emergencies which can lead you into a financial burden with hefty hospital and medication bills. Therefore, it is always advisable to invest in the right company which doesn’t only offer big commitments to provide you fancy facilities but actually, fulfill them at the time of requirement without any undisclosed exclusions and hidden clauses.

Amongst various health insurance companies available in the market making big commitments, HDFC Ergo Health Insurance really tops the chart of being a preferred choice for a health insurance in today’s scenario with its market report evaluation and customer satisfaction report with its quality products and services.

HDFC Ergo has a Gross direct premium of Rs. 3623.49 crores, which means, HDFC Ergo covered approximately 7.1% of the health insurance market in 2019-20, out of the total market share. The IAAA rating by ICRA and the customer base of more than 75 lakhs signify its highest claim paying ability.

Below are the few factors which make HDFC Ergo health insurance ideal health insurance to have as a partner-

No age restrictions- The Company has no age restrictions for its customers to buy their health care plans starting from 18 years without any hindrance, which means all age groups of individuals can avail their plans.

Easy Payment Option- In case an individual is unable to make full payment of the premium amount in one go due to various personal or financial reasons, HDFC Ergo gives an option to pay in installments to support their customers.

Health care at Residence- While most of the insurance companies take the liability of payment only in case of hospitalization but HDFC Ergo has a unique facility of Cashless home health care treatment where they help in availing the best medical assistance along with home care facilities.

Customer-Centric- As the medical emergency can occur at any stage and any hour of the day without any prior notice. Therefore to provide continuous support to their customers, HDFC Ergo has 24x7 customer care to resolve the queries of their customers and settling claims.

Ayush Benefits- HDFC Ergo covers hospitalization expenses and treatments of alternative medical science such as Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha or Homeopathy, giving a wider opportunity to customers to opt for medication of their own choice. It is advisable to add an AYUSH cover to the health plan of senior citizens as AYUSH offers the best alternative treatments available for elderly people who usually have pre-existing diseases.

Renewability- HDFC Ergo offers the possibility of lifelong policy’s renewal with quick and easy process with an assurance to provide stress-free life from financial burden generated due to medical emergencies.

Network Hospitals- HDFC Ergo has a network of 10,000 hospitals spread across the country, where their customers can avail of cashless medication at the time of emergency, along with other facilities such as inpatient care, complementary health checkups, and daily cash benefits.

Solvency Ratio- The solvency ratio demonstrates the insurance company’s capacity to meet its long-term financial obligations. As per IRDAI annual report 2019-2020, the solvency ratio of HDFC Ergo is 1.77 which considered being a healthy ratio and indicates its claim paying ability.

Claim Support- Claim settlement is one of the important factors to be considered while selecting a health insurance company as it describes the claim settling ability of the insurance company. If the company is not able to settle claims in the given time period, then the whole purpose of purchasing insurance gets wasted.  According to the IRDAI Annual Report 2019-2020, HDFC Ergo has settled 99.8% of claims within 3 months. The higher the percentage, the better the company's ability to settle claims. Hence, this factor makes a company highly trustworthy amongst its customers.

 

How To Decide The Policy Term of a Life Insurance Policy?

Nobody ever anticipates his death and does not see it as a thing that needs to be planned or dealt with. But if you have a family to look after, then it becomes your duty to think of a backup plan that will ensure the security of their future in case of your sudden and unexpected demise. And the best way to ensure the financial safety of your family is by taking a life insurance policy. It guarantees compensation for loss of life in return for the payment of a specified premium. 

Nowadays, life insurance policies come within several types of variants, such as the ULIP, term insurance, endowment policy, and so on. All these policies offer different types of benefits, depending upon the specific needs of the policyholders. But to gain maximum advantage, one must properly decide the term for that insurance policy. 

The time period of a life insurance policy varies depending on the financial requirements of the policyholder, which can range from 10 years to 30 years (generally speaking). Below, we’ve listed 4 important factors that should be considered before deciding the term of a life insurance policy:

Financial Goals

The first and foremost thing which you must do while calculating the policy term is take into consideration your future financial goals. This is because the term period for which you should take a policy is directly linked with your future intentions of using those insurance funds. 

For example, if you are buying insurance to cover the years of your child’s higher education (7-8 years), then you should opt for a 10-year term life insurance. Similarly, if you want to utilize the insurance funds for retirement, then you must pick a longer policy term that can easily coincide with your retirement age. Therefore, you need to strategize the term period for your insurance policy in a way that can match your future goals.

Premiums Payments

The premium payment factor is directly related to the term period of an insurance policy. The higher the term period, the more will be the premium cost. Therefore, you should properly assess your income capacity first and then select a suitable term period that would serve your purpose of financial stability and sustain your present lifestyle. 

An ideal term period will make it quite easy for you to adjust your expenses, present income, and savings to fund the premium payments. 

Inflation Adjustment 

Inflation is something that increases the price of products/services in the future and reduces the value of money. So, if you decide a cover amount of say Rs. 50 lakhs today, this amount can become insufficient for your family to maintain their similar standard of living in the future.

Therefore, it is important to ensure that the policy term you have selected will be enough to cover the needs of your family for the next 20 years, even after considering the inflation factor.

Peer Pressure

Many individuals decide the policy term of their life insurance based on their peer’s decisions. For example, Ram will go for a policy term of 10 years because his colleague (Raghav) did the same. That’s not how it’s done. Raghav’s financial needs may be different and his chosen policy tenure may not be in sync with Ram’s financial requirements. So, it’s smart to ignore peer pressure while choosing the policy term of life insurance.

Having a life insurance policy is no more a choice but has rather become an essential item in today’s world, given the uncertainty of our lives. Therefore, it’s important to choose the right life insurance policy along with the policy term to fully match your family’s financial requirements. 

Check How To Get Roadside Assistance Under Motor Insurance Policy

Check how to get Roadside Assistance under Motor insurance policy

There are very fewer people who have complete knowledge about their motor insurance cover. Most of the Indian population fails to utilize the benefits offered inside their insurance policy.

The main reason is negligence and insufficient information provided by the agents.

Let’s get a quick glimpse of coverage offered by the car insurance -

• Protection from their party liabilities caused due to loss/physical injuries made by the insured vehicle owner to third party property  or body
• Coverage against thefts, burglary, fires and explosions, self-ignition.
• transportation/shipment damages
• Damages coming from riots, strikes, malicious acts, terrorist activities, natural disasters.
• Add-on covers for extra protection- Roadside assistance, Return to Invoice, Nil depreciation, Loss of accessories, cost of consumables, Personal Accident Cover, etc.

So, we are going to explore an add-on option called ‘Roadside Assistance’.

What do you understand by Roadside Assistance?

Roadside Assistance cover gives you the facility of repair when your car becomes dead in between the road. In such a condition getting a mechanic is a time-consuming process and causes difficulty. 

However, you can surpass this situation by adding the Roadside Assistance cover in the motor insurance policy. You only need to deposit an extra premium in supplementary to the basic premium applicable.

Services offered Under Roadside Assistance

• Towing Service: To move the vehicle from the place where the breakdown occurred, the insurer makes a quick availability of towing service. The vehicle is taken to the verified garage network to get expert assistance. Towing facility is free of cost up to 50 kilometers. However, distance fluctuates from company to company.
• Mechanical/electrical breakdown: On-the-spot repair service is provided if the insured car/bike denies working while traveling on a road. A mechanic is assigned who will guide the car owner in jump-starting battery and other small repairs. In case the car owner has been locked out of the vehicle, pickup and delivery of spare keys will also be provided.
• Fuel delivery: We should always keep backup support to combat the contingencies of life. Like while driving, you should keep an extra fuel bottle. But this may not always possible for you. So, in this cover policyholders will get 5 liters fuel delivery onetime. The cost of fuel is to be incurred by the policyholder.
• Hotel Accommodation: Hotel service will be organized, in case the vehicle is under maintenance in a garage. Please focus that only arrangement is made by the company. The rent is to be paid by the policyholder. Plus, the hotel allowed will be nearby to the garage location.
• Flat Tire Service: It’s a very unfortunate thing when the tire of your vehicle gets a puncture in between your journey. To fix the problem, a mechanic will be assigned on the spot to repair the tire condition.
• Cab Service: Most of the companies under roadside assistance cover provides cab service or alternate vehicle support if the insured car is under garage. Compensation for the cost incurred on hiring a cab/taxi is paid by the insurer. The only condition to avail of this service is that your vehicle must be under repair for more than 2 or 3 days.
• Medical Evacuation: Suppose you are going on a long weekend in your car with the family. In between the travel, your car becomes immobilized. Your mother is an asthma patient and suddenly got asthma. Then, you can reach your insurer for medical help. However, the policyholder is expected to meet the treatment expenses by himself/herself.
• Urgent Message Delivery: This facility is exclusively for emergencies. There are monuments when you have to contact your family to give information about where you are.  The insurer will organize a conference call to deliver any urgent messages. 
• Delivery of Repaired Car/Bike: In case the insured vehicle owner is not available to receive the repaired car, then the insurer will take charge of delivering your vehicle at our home.

Companies that offer Roadside Assistance cover

In India, almost every car insurance company provides to keep their coverage competitive in comparison to its competitors.

• Bajaj Allianz
• HDFC Ergo
• IFFCO Tokio
• Tata AIG
• Royal Sundaram
• Universal Sompo
• Reliance General
• National Insurance

So, it completely depends upon you whether you need a roadside assistance cover or not. You should first evaluate your vehicle condition and accordingly, choose your coverage.

How can you Prevent your Life Insurance Claims Rejections?

When do you Need to Raise the Claim?

Your life insurance products come in different shapes and size. You must select the one as per your need and raise the claim accordingly. You may be required to raise the claim in some common events as follows.

• The demise of the Policyholder
• Major Accidents
• Critical Illnesses
• Any other

What is the Process of Raising the Claim?

The process of raising the claim is quite simple. You just need to contact your insurance provider and submit the required documents. If you have purchased your policy online through web aggregators like PolicyX than the process is even simpler. Irrespective of the Insurance provider, you have selected such as HDFC Life, PNB Met Life, Max Life, the process remains somewhat similar. You just have to adhere to the defined procedure as communicated and documented in your policy.

5 Mistakes to Avoid Claim Rejections

• Declare all Mandatory Details at the Time of Policy Commencement
  You should never hide any details from your insurers. If you die because of any of the undisclosed reason that your claim will surely get rejected. This is applicable to the people who smoke on a daily basis. It is also true for the people who suffer from any pre-existing diseases.
• Avoid the Policy Lapse
  In order to get the benefits of the claims, you must renew your policy on time. Every Insurance policy gives you the flexibility to renew it as per your convenience. Most of the people prefer to renew it every year. You may start getting alerts one month before your policy alter. You must make the payment of the premium before the due date to continue the same. If you raise your claim against a lapsed policy than obviously there is no chance for you to get the benefits of the claims.
• Don’t Raise the Wrong Claim Amount
  Whenever you buy any policy there is an amount of the sum insured that is decided in advance. It is applicable to any kind of claim. You may have a different amount of sum insured fixed for your life as compared to the accident. Claim amount that you must raise must be directly related to the amount of your sum insured. If you raise your claim more than the sum insured than your claim may not be approved. Similarly, if the amount of the claim raised is less than the sum insured than you will deprive yourself of the benefit of the remaining amount.
• Submit all the Documents & Follow the Process
  For raising your claim you must submit certain documents as required by your life insurance policy. Some of the documents that you need to submit might be in the original. You must check the process and the requirement about how you need to submit your documents. If you don't submit these documents in original than also there are chances of your claims to get rejected. Along with submitting your document in original, you must also fill the claim form as issued by your insurance company. Submissions of all the mandatory documents are an essential part of raising the claims.
• Contact your Insurance Provider within the Defined Timeframe
  You must raise your claim according to the timelines as defined by Insurance regulatory and development authority of India (IRDAI). If you fail to raise your claim within that time period than your claim may be considered as null and void.
• Claim Should Not be Raised by Anyone Else Other Than you or your Beneficiary
  Only your beneficiary will be entitled to get the raised claim amount. If someone raises the claims besides you or your nominee than it surely is doomed to get rejected.
• Read the Policy Documents Thoroughly
  All the life insurance products and plans offered by different insurance companies got different rules and regulations. You must read the policy documents thoroughly for a better understanding of their terms and conditions. Thorough understanding of your policy terms and conditions can always help you in preventing any kind of claim rejections.

Know more about life insurance - Click Here

Your life insurance is your investment, you must not let your claim get rejected because of your carelessness. By avoiding the mistakes above you can ensure to get the settlement of your claims as per policy term and conditions. Most of the insurance firms facilitate 98% claims settlement, remaining 2% gets rejected because of the mistakes committed by the policyholder. Most of these lapses or mistake are because of the reasons as cited above. You can stay updated about all the procedure so that you can avoid the claims to get rejected because of any aforesaid reasons.

Top 6 reasons why every bread-winner needs a life Insurance

Life insurance is important for anybody who has a family to look after or for someone who wants to achieve a long-term goal. People who are retired and have no income source count on the life insurance policies they invest money on. People who own business also need life insurance as it saves them from financial loss. Also, in the case of business is owned by two or more people life insurance proves beneficial in case of death of any business partners.

A few reasons why Life Insurance is Inevitable

• Paying off the debts:

All of us take loans for various purposes. It could be to start a business, to buy a car, to buy a new house, to get your child married or even for travel. It is our duty to pay off the loans in a time period. However, in case of the insured, it becomes a responsibility of the surviving family members to pay off the debts. However, if you have life insurance there is no cause to worry as it will automatically take care of such adverse situations.

• Saving tax:

According to the current provisions of the Income Tax Act, people who buy a life insurance policy can get tax benefits of up to Rs.1.5 lakh as premium. Apart from that, the family gets free death and maturity proceedings those who own a life insurance premium policy according to the Income Tax Act,1961. There could be no other reason as important and relevant for a person who has a family to look after to purchase a life insurance policy.

• To secure your child’s future:

For those people who have children to bring up needs a life insurance policy to make their future secured. Every child would need financial help to fulfill their dreams and objectives. Without money n,o dreams could be brought true. Hence it is not only necessity but a duty for each parent to see to it that they have a life insurance policy to assure support for the future of their children. Having a life insurance also means a relief and stress-free life where you can have peace of mind. Even if one has a small policy your family remains protected.

• Save a business:

It becomes significant for one to own a life insurance policy if he has a business to run. As a business person one puts in a lot of hard work and money to see their business flourish. However, there could be times of adversities or unknown threats which could challenge the existenceof one’s business. Having a life insurance policy saves a business even if you are doing a partnership business. In case of death of one partner, the other won’t have to compromise or face loss.

• To secure life after retirement:

Those who have a term life insurance policy gather enough funds in their kitty which could take care of their lives after retirement. Hence most of the times the life insurance policies can be used as supplements to cover old age post-retirement.

• Lost income replacement:

If there is only one family member who earns in the family and the others are dependent, it becomes important for the family to have someone support them in case of his death. A life insurance policy could be the source for such families which would provide financial independence after the demise of the breadwinner.

Once a person learns the importance of buying life insurance policy it is crucial to choose the right kind of policy that could fulfil his needs in the future. Depending on whether his need for a life insurance policy is long-term or short-term he should first do his own research and pick the policy that is accurate for him. While purchasing a policy he should keep in mind about the amount that he is going to get as a return, the premium that he would be paid and should finally be happy to learn about additional bonuses and benefits that the policy would bring to him.

5 Steps for Selecting Best Health Insurance Plan

A health insurance is not just an investment but a necessity. It can not only be a life savior but can be the best financial management tool. You can avail many other benefits through health insurance plans. Some of them can be saving your tax, staying health conscious, early diagnosis of disease and many more. 

When a health policy can offer you so much you must be aware of how to select a suitable plan for yourself. Before buying any of the plans you must analyze them on certain criteria and select the suitable plan accordingly. An informed decision can always lead to the best returns of investment.

Use the Online Premium Calculator

An online premium calculator is available on any online comparison site without any additional cost. Using an online calculator on any insurance aggregator can give you quotes from any of the leading insurance companies. You can compare the premium of leading companies and buy a suitable plan. To calculate the rate of premium from any of the company you just need to enter a few basic details. Some of the variables required to get the amount of premium from various health insurance firms are as follows.

Online Premium Calculator Details

• Age
• Gender
• Sum Insured
• Mobile Number
• Monthly Salary 

To get the best premium rate you can visit PolicyX. You can surely get the best price from various leading players. PolicyX is one of the fast growing and leading insurance web aggregator.

Select Right Type of Health Plan

Luckily there are varied health insurance plans to choose from. You can select the one that meets your requirements and purpose. Types of the plan that you can select can be an individual plan, group plan or family floater plan. All the plans have got different coverage. Some of the plans are elaborated below.

• Individual Plans - Individual plans are suitable if you are single. Sum insured that can be taken is as per your choice. The advantage of this plan is you can take the entire cover as and when you need once annually.
• Group Plans - Group plans are suitable for the organizations or communities that want to cover more than 10-20 people. The benefit of the group plan is it is available at a very less cost and the coverage can be much more.
• Family Floater Plans - Family Floater plans are good if you plan to cover your entire family. With the same amount of premium, you can secure a certain sum insured for your family. The advantage of this plan is any one member of your family can use the entire amount at the time of any ailment.
• Senior Citizen Plan - This plan is specific to the people above 60 years of age. You can choose the plan for an elderly member of your family. The benefit of this plan is the concerned person can cover specific disease with the help of this plan. After deciding about specific health policy you can buy it from any of the leading players. There are many players who can suggest you customized plan as per your requirement. One of my friends brought an individual plan Optima Restore from Apollo Munich. The feature that made her took this decision was the option of increasing the sum insured. You may plan to choose any of the health plans as per your requirements.

Compare Features

Before buying any medical insurance plan you must compare their features. Every health insurance players may have a different feature from other. You can select the plan that has got the most suitable attribute that you want.

Claim Settlement Ratio

One of the game changer in helping you in taking the right decision for your health insurance plan can be the claim settlement ratio of these health insurance firms. Most of them have got the settlement ratio of more than 90%. You can give some weight to the claim settlement ratio of these players.

List of Networked Hospitals for Cashless Treatment

This is one of the important criteria for choosing a health insurance plan. Almost all the health plans facilitate cashless treatment. You don't have to pay anything from your pocket if you got your health insurance policy details. The number of hospitals covered by these health policies may differ. They may also include the different brand of hospitals in their network. You can either choose the health plan based on the hospital you want or the number of hospitals covered. Some of the leading players with the approximate number of hospitals covered by them are shown below.

Leading Players	Hospital Network
Reliance Health Insurance	4000
Apollo Munich	4500
ICICI Lombard	4500
HDFC Ergo	5000
Religare	5400
Star Health	8400

After deciding about a specific health plan you can select your medical insurance online from any comparison sites. PolicyX can assist you with a free Insurance manager that can help you in checking all the above parameters with ease.

How Can We Fight The Battle Against Cancer?

As soon as we hear about cancer we get dead scared. But do we also know that we can cure it? By getting little awareness about this disease we can help people around us managing this deadly disease. Before helping others, we must get familiarise with this illness.

This can be done in many ways as follows:-

• Attending cancer awareness programs
  Many organizations conduct cancer awareness programs time and again. Through their workshops, they make people aware of various types of cancers. And what can be done to prevent it? These sessions are conducted throughout India and usually free of cost. As a health conscious individual one must attend these seminars. Not only can it help in preventing it but we can win the battle against cancer as well.
• Doing little Lifestyle modifications
  One of the major reason of cancer is related to our lifestyle. We may be working or partying late hours. Also eating any junk. All these may not have any immediate effect. But it can impact us later. At times it may result in cancer as well.
• Regular Workouts
  Any kind of exercise can not only keep us fit but prevent many critical illnesses as well. One such deadly disease that can be avoided through the workout is cancer. We can do any kind of exercise to keep us fit. It can be going to the gym; attending yoga or doing aerobics. Alternatively, we can also try going for Zumba classes or participate in Marathons. Whatever form of exercise we may choose we need to be consistent. Going thrice a week at least for 30 minutes is good to keep us healthy.
• Going for regular checkups
  We must do all the medical tests bi-annually. It can always assist us in early detection of any form of illness. We can take some good packages of the companies that can offer good discounts. At times we may be entitled to get some corporate discounts as well.
• Buying Cancer Insurance Plans
  Last but not the least this is the best solution to protect us from cancer. It is an ideal health Insurance cover all expenses from day one. It can prevent us from any kind of financial crisis.

How to cure cancer?

As we know prevention is better than cure. We can avoid this disease to a certain extent by taking some precautions. However, at times, it may not be in our hands. That times the best thing to handle it is by proper treatment. That can be done with Cancer Insurance plan as well.

Cancer Insurance Plan can help us in managing these diseases in many ways as follows.

• Arranging required funds.
• Awareness programs
• Facilitating Cashless Treatments
• Covering person immediately
• Expert Advise

An insurance company and their features

There are some of the leading players that can also help in curing and managing this deadly disease. They are as follows.

1. ICICI Pru Cancer Plan

2. Apollo Munich Cancer plan

3. Future Generali Cancer plan

4. Max Life Cancer Insurance

5. HDFC Life Cancer Insurance plan

6. Bharati Axa Cancer

7. BSLI Cancer Shield Plan

Some of their common features are as follows:-

Free Lookup Period

Every company gives us a grace period of 15 to 30 days. If for any reason we are not sure of continuing the policy that we can cancel it.

Flexibility in payments

We can make payments in easy installments of monthly, bi-annually or yearly.

Tax Benefits

We can save our taxes as per the applicable law.

Eligibility

Anyone from 25 to 65 years of age can take this plan.

Policy term

Policy term varies between 10 to 40 years.

We must take all steps to sageguard ourselves from any such deadly diseases. This can be done by following above steps.