How is Health Insurance the Best Gift for Our Parents?

We all know importance of Health Insurance policy in today's time. It's not only investment but best security for our health. Every person requires it to manage any health-related urgencies. In case of senior citizens, it's even more important. There are many kinds of Health Insurance Policies. We can choose the same as per our health condition. People above 60 years of age may need more customised plan. They can choose a Health Insurance policy in which they can get maximum benefits. Besides covering all expenses at the time of hospitalization it provides many other benefits as well. Some of them are like free tests, wellness programmes, timely health updates etc.

As a responsible citizen, we must ensure all members of our family are covered in the Health Insurance Plans. We must take special care of our aging parents. While selecting the policy for senior citizens of a family we should first be aware of their health conditions. Infact Health Insurance Policy can be the best gifts for your parents. 

How Tanya surprised her parent's on their golden jubilee?

Tanya has been planning for her parents the day that is their 50th anniversary from few weeks. She made all arrangement but she was still not sure what should she gift to her parents. As she felt they got everything. Then one day she got the call from an agent about the policy. She was about to disconnect the call but as soon as the advisor asked the age of her parents she got an idea. Her both parents were senior citizens but they didn't have health Insurance plans. Her dad had a cholesterol problem and mom was suffering from one of the critical illness. She couldn't think of buying a better gift than 2 health policies as per her parents need. When she gifted that plan to her parents they got emotional. They hugged her as they couldn't expect a better gift than that.

How to choose a Health Insurance Policy?

Good Health Insurance Plan for parents should be carefully chosen. Factors that we should keep in mind before selecting the right policy for us is as follows.

1. How many Hospitals they have:- Most of the Health Insurance policies have thousands of hospitals in their panels. We can check the same from their websites. Some of them may be preferred by us for any reason. One of them can be our relative is a doctor there. We can check the hospital details and choose the policy accordingly.
2. How many policies they have already sold:- Most of the Health Insurance Policies publish these details on their websites. We can also check that in any of the web aggregators sites. This can help in understanding their existing customers and credibility.
3. How much claims they have already settled.
4. What additional benefits they are providing- Many Health Insurance companies offers many additional benefits. Few of them can be Wellness programmes; Free Health Checkups, Informative emails etc. These all initiative help us stay health conscious. We can decide to buy based on these factors as well.
5. What is their premium amount.
6. Is there flexibility on the payment of premium like monthly or yearly.
7. What is the locking period and till how long we have to pay.

After analysing the criteria above we can choose Health plan thatis most suitable.

Some of the Health Insurance Policy company to choose from are as follows :-

Sno.	Health Insurance Companies
1.	Apollo Munich
2.	HDFC ERGO
3.	Tata AIG
4.	Aditya Birla
5.	Reliance Health Gain Policy
6.	ICICI Lombard
7.	Aviva Health Secure
8.	Religare
9.	Star Health
10.	Max Bupa
11.	Birla Sun Life

Next time if you are confused about what to gift your parents then you can follow Tanya.

Best gifts any parents would cherish is good Health Insurance Plan.

Get Wings to Your Financial Freedom Through Pension Plans

At the time of Retirement best gift, we can give ourselves is good Pension Plan. Though nowadays there’s no age of retirement as its more of personal choice. However, official retirement age varies between 62 to 67 years. People also take voluntary retirement at the age of 50 years or even early. We may choose our retirement as per our choice and interest.It may be as early as possible or later threshold of our life.However, The major factor that may delay our retirement is financial constraint. But with proper planning, we may choose to retire anytime.

This can be possible by taking good Pension plan as per our requirements. This has got many other benefits as well that has been explained in details below.

Why do we need pension plans after Retirement?

1. Financial Freedom:- Biggest Advantage of having compare & buy pension plan is guaranteed source of Income and required capital after retirement. Even if we have a pool of funds, Pension policy is an additional source of Income and helps us leading a luxurious life.
2. Managing Urgencies:- Money is never in abundance more we have more we want. Medical urgencies or any other kind of emergency can occur with anyone with us or anyone close to us. What can immediately save is ready availability of funds. If we have money when we need; it can save us from many problems.
3. Tax Advantages:- Maximum advantage of this policy can be availed if we start investing much before our vesting* age. This is because premium that we pay assists in saving our taxes as per section 80c.
4. Liquidity Benefits:- During the time of accumulation i.e when we are paying for Pension funds we can take funds in urgencies even before maturity.However, the amount we get may not be much but it may help us managing contingencies.This may be possible only after locking period is over i.e usually 3 to 5 years.
5. Insurance Cover:– The additional benefit of this policy is we can get life cover as well .This may act as a boon in case of any mishap. It acts as great support system especially for family i.e spouses; kids or parents. This applies only to specific plan that we buy.
6. We can chose our *corpus:– We can also choose the amount we want to pay as per our current Income and the amount we want during the vesting period. Most of the pension plans got that flexibility.

Types of Pension Plans

S.No	Plan Name	Details
1	Deferred Annunity Policy Plan	As per this plan, a policyholder is entitled to get annuity after fix period. Like if someone chooses a period of 25 years then they will get a deferment till that period. The period can be paid once or as regular Installments.
2	Immediate Annuity Pension Plan	According to this plan, annuity starts immediately after payment of premium.
3	Life Cover Policy	As is clear from the name of the policy there is additional coverage of Life provided.
4	No Cover Policy	This policy doesn't cover the life. Complete corpus amount is paid as pension Income.
5	Assured Annuity	This plan pays the annuity for a period as decided by the policyholder
6	Annuity Guaranteed Period	As per this plan, an annuity is given for some fixed time duration.It can be 5 years; 10 years o 15 years.

Not Limited to above there are many other plans as listed below

1. Annuity Life

2. NPS (National Pension Scheme)

3.Pension Investment Funds

How Ramya planned her Corpus during Vesting time?

Ramya; 25 years old Investment banker plans to retire at 50. She is currently earning around Rs.1,00,000 per month and she wants to get assured Income of Rs.50000 for 10 years ie till 60 years. She needs to Invest at least 60 lakhs to get that much of amount. Ramya can either choose to pay a lump sum or can Invest annually or after some interval as per Insurance plan she may choose.Definitely, the amount she will get will be much more than Investment due to interest and other funds that gets added timely as per the plan.

At the same time, she may choose to have Life coverage and no Life cover. Based on her needs she can go for any of the plans as above. Since she is single as of now; but plans to get married afer few years her decision to take the plan was based on that. As per her requriement she planned to take Deferred Annunity Policy Plan by 25 years of Term. She took the plan from Reliance Smart Pension plan. Annually she’s paying around Rs. 2,40,000 Lakh for the same.This plan is always helping her saving tax as well. She leads a happy life and is quiet prodcutive as work as she can retire young without any financial burden.

Vesting* Period:– It’s duration when we need assured monthy Income. It can be 5 years ; 10 years or 15 years based on our needs and requirements.

*Corpus:- It’s total amount that we may need to Invest that can give us required Income during Vesting period.

Current Leading Pension Plans with Details

S.No	Company	Term of Policy	Age of Vesting	Age Bandwidth
1	HDFC Life Guaranteed Pension Plan	10 years – 20 years	55 years – 75 years	35 years – 65 years
2	LIC New Jeevan Nidhi	5 years – 35 years	55 years –65 years	20 years -60 years
3	SBI Life Saral Pension	10 years – 30 years	40 years – 70 years	18 years – 60 years
4	Reliance Smart Pension Plan	10 years -30 years	45 years – 75 years	8 years – 65 years

In additon there are many others to choose from as mentioned below.

1. Bajaj Allianze Retire rich
2. Aegon Life Guaranteed Plan
3. Advantage Insurance Plan
4. BSLI Empower Pension Plan
5. HDFC Life Assured Pension Plan
6. LIC Jeevan Akshay
7. HDFC Life Personal Pension Plus
8. Reliance Immediate Annuity Plan

*Annual Premium & Sum Insured is based on corpus & vesting age.

How to File a Claim with Apollo Munich Health Insurance?

Apollo Munich- One of the top most health insurance companies of India, which is not only providing a wide range of healthcare products for customer but also serve a hassle free claim process to get the competitive edge in the market. Apollo Munich deals in two types of claims- Cashless claims for either planned or emergency visits, and reimbursement claims where policyholders can ask for refund of cash already spent for hospitalization and other charges.

Apollo Munich carries a wide list of network hospitals where a person can get the cashless hospitalization benefits. Whenever a policyholder is going to file a claim, it is always advisable that they should keep a copy of the documents that they have submitted towards the claim.

Incurred Claim ratio of Apollo Munich Health Insurance:

ICR or Incurred claim ratio is basically the amount or the value of claims paid by the company and divided by the total sum of premiums collected by that company for a specific period of time.

Claim Procedure:

Policyholders can go for cashless claims. At Apollo Munich, the claim process is really easily and same for almost all policies along with slight differences.

The following claim procedure highlights the necessary steps required to file the claim.

Cashless Claim:

The best thing about the cashless claim settlement procedure is that under the same, a person need not settle the bill themselves. Under the same, a TPA will take care of all the payments related to the hospital bills and treatment charges. However, the procedure related to cashless emergency claims and cashless planned claims vary.

Cashless Claims Procedure for Emergency Admission:

There is no doubt in saying that the emergency hospitals visits are a matter of concern and stress related to associated funds, insurance claims will only add to it. At the time of admission a person should make sure that it is a network hospital or not, otherwise cashless claim would not take place. Lfit is a network hospital, and then the following procedure needs to be followed.

Inform the Apollo Munich about the hospitalization within 24 hours. You must reach out to the desk of hospital and fill the forms related to cashless claim and share the same with the Apollo Munich for a cashless claim. It is important for the claim to be certified by the attending doctor.

The hospital authority will send the insurance claim themselves or can fax it to Apollo Munich.

After that, the TPA will check the documents submitted. If additional documents are required, the TPA will ask for it. If the claim got approval from TPA, then the hospital bills and all expenses will get cover under the effective health insurance plan(Why Health Insurance Is Must For You?). If the claim got rejected, then the bills need to be settled by policyholder and later he/she can ask for reimbursement.

Cashless Claims Procedure for Planned Admission:

If the policyholder is going to take a treatment in a network hospital and wants to avail the cashless benefit then he/she requires following the planned cashless claim procedure which is as follows:

Choose the hospital from the wide list of network hospitals. Inform the company about the same at least 48 hours before the hospitalization. For the same, the policyholder have to submit a few details such as policy number. You can inform the company by dialing toll free number 1800-102-0333.

The policyholder have to fill the cashless request form and can faxed the same to the company. Attached the form along with a certification from the doctor and medical records. Apollo Munich will check the submitted documents and send their decision to the hospital.

In a few cases, the company can also ask for a few additional documents. If the claim got approve then the Apollo Munich will take care of the same. In case of rejection, the bills have to be cleared by the policyholder and later on he/she can ask for reimbursement.

Reimbursement of Treatment Expenses:

In case where the cashless claims face rejection, the bills will get clear by the policyholder and Later on he/she can file for the reimbursement of expenses. Cashless claims get rejected because of less supporting documents or because the hospital is not the in the network list of Apollo Munich. The following procedure needs to be followed to make reimbursement claims:

You will have to inform Apollo Munich about the hospitalization in a specific time period.

You will have to intimate Apollo Munich on admission or treatment within a stipulated time frame. More often than not the sooner one intimates the insurance provider, the better the chances of getting approved.

Claims Process:

The team of claim process will review all documents and ask for additional if required. For the additional documents you will get the time of 7 days for submission

If the claim is acceptable, the cheque will be dispatched within 30 days

If the claim is not acceptable you will get a rejection letter along with the reasons for rejection.

What are network and non-network hospitals? How does it affect your health insurance claim?

Health is wealth, there is no doubt in this statement. We all know that a good health is much more important than holding lots of wealth. A person with a good health will be able to earn huge wealth that can provide a quality life. Whereas, if we talk about a person who does not have good health, he will spend all of his savings and wealth in getting the right treatment for it. It is true that good health can never be compromised.

So, are you taking the essential steps to secure it? Regardless of all precautions, we still fall sick, meet accidents and they are out of control. You can't control it, but you can prepare yourself to fight against it. Most of the time we fall prey just because of the economic crisis. In several cases, we have to stop working just because of poor health. Sometimes we were unable to bear the burden of heavy healthcare expenses, in such cases, we have to spend all of our hard-earned money to get proper treatment.

In most cases, people borrow money from friends and relatives to get the required treatment. But with the help of an effective health insurance plan, you can completely focus on treatment rather than the cost involved in it. If you are not fine with the reimbursement concept of health insurance then it is advisable for you to have a look at the cashless benefits. Cashless hospitalization refers to the concept where the insurer will pay directly to the hospital for your treatment and you will be able to have quality treatment without paying a single penny from your pocket. But to avail cashless benefits you have to get the treatment in a network hospital otherwise you will not be liable for the treatment.

What are Network Hospitals?

There is no doubt in saying that health insurance companies know the fact that the hospital will charge more from a patient with a cover as compared to those who may not have a cover. It can be a huge loss for insurance companies. For turning the same into profitability and reducing the level of losses, they tie up with a hospitals and make them a part of network hospitals. Thinking about the convenience that they offer, many policyholders prefers to visit in-network hospitals for various treatments. Network hospitals gradually become the part of the broad hospital network with whom some insurance companies are associated.

It is advisable for those who are purchasing a medical insurance policy that pay attention to its features and the list of network hospitals. It will help you in saving a lot of money and the insurer will have no issue at the time of claim settlement. Under the process of a network hospital claim settlement, the insurer will check all the relevant documents of patients and his/her policy and give a final approval of the claim settlement after checking the policy terms and conditions and hospital bills.

Who wins?

A person who takes the advantage of treatment in a network hospital surely gets more benefits compared to non-network ones. The reason behind the same is that in a network hospital he/she will be able to get the quality treatment without paying a single penny from his/her own pocket. In such situation insurer will take care of all the expenses. It is always a wise decision to go for a treatment in a network hospital.

Mostly all insurance companies provide a list of network hospital to the consumer along with the policy documents at the time of purchase. It is usually a good idea to have a handy list of all network hospitals that can provide quick help in the case of any emergency. This list and its related coverage acts like a savior in case when you need it the most. Through it, an insured can easily approach a network hospital and can take benefits of insurance policy. He/she will get medical treatment at an affordable cost and can avail the cashless benefits as well. In the case of pre-planned hospitalization, the insured must inform the TPA beforehand and take all the necessary approvals. You must rely on non-network hospital only in case of unavoidable emergencies.

It is thus important that the insured pays all the premium on time in order to get better coverage in case of need. They can expect to be taken care of during hospitalization without worrying about burdening their pocket with extra expenses. Thus, having treatment in network hospital is much better than having it in a non- network hospital for the benefits they offer to the insured.

Having a cashless treatment is always a wise option. With the same, a person and his/her family would be able to take proper care of the patient rather than arranging funds for the treatment. The insurance company will be there to clear all the bills on time on behalf of the insured.

Get The Best Bike Insurance Plan For Your Vehicle Online

It would be safe to assume that a two-wheeler vehicle is a widely popular means of transportation. With the jam-packed roads, rush hour traffic, a bike or a scooter can help you beat those traffic blues and also help save minutes on that ever moving ahead clock.

If you are planning on purchasing a two-wheeler or are an owner of one, bike insurance is a must. As per the Motors and Vehicles Act of 1988, it is mandatory that you get a third party insurance done right after you complete the registration process for your bike.

In the absence of bike insurance, you will be penalized and also be held legally responsible if a third party is harmed physically or their material assets are caught in the line of fire. With a number of motorcycle insurance companies available in the market, make sure to weigh the pros and cons before settling on one.

Types Of Bike Insurance Policies For Your Benefit
As two wheeler insurance is made mandatory, most people end up buying an insurance plan only to be on the correct side of the law rather than looking for its complete coverage benefits.

For this reason, there are two types of bike insurance

• Third party liability bike insurance
• Comprehensive bike insurance

What Is Third Party Liability Insurance?
This type of 2 wheeler insurance plan will only provide coverage against any damages or losses caused to a third party. No personal coverage, for the driver and the rider, or any loss or damage caused, will also be left out from this type of insurance plan.

Monetary wise, this plan will be the cheapest, as it provides minimal coverage. If you want to purchase a plan as an obligation to the mandate law, then do go for the third party liability insurance plan.

What Is Comprehensive Bike Insurance?
Under this insurance plan, the insured will be protected against loss, damage or theft. It will include personal coverage for the driver and the rider in case of an accident. Also, this plan will have all the benefits of a third party liability insurance plan. This plan can be further modified to include additional coverage benefits as per the policyholder.

Additional coverage can include:

• Towing assistance
• Roadside repair
• Legal assistance and cover
• Remote area cover and more

Documents Required For Bike Insurance
The formalities to be completed for purchasing a bike insurance is pretty straightforward. For a new two wheeler insurance plan, the application form and the registration papers of your bike should suffice. In case of renewal, the respective application form and the old insurance plan papers would be all that is required.

Compare Motor Vehicle Insurance Plans Online, Get The Best Coverage Possible
With the necessity for bike insurance, there are a number of vendors present in the market offering various vehicle insurance plans. To be policy owner, it would be in your best interest to compare the benefits of different third party liability or comprehensive coverage plans available.

Augmented Security and Providence with Home Insurance

In the present soaring circumstance of uncertainty and insecurity, natural and manual disasters can’t be foreseen. No amount of prescience pays and it becomes paramount to take deliberate steps to insure and secure safety for our lives and belongings.

Home is one of the prime investments an individual makes in his/her lifetime. Thus, a good home insurance at hand makes one’s situation bearable when the calamity strikes.

Why Insure Your Home
Truly speaking, one may own a home legally without having a home insurance. But in the times of financial crises or need of some kind, mortgaging home requires one to have one’s home insured as a part of the process. The same is required by the lender too.

Besides that, the huge benefit of having a home insurance online is having financial coverage for damage caused by unforeseen circumstances, natural or manual. The insurance helps make up for the loss or damage of home or covered belongings due to thefts or other perils such as lightning, wind storms etc.

Other calamities such as earthquakes and floods are covered too in home insurance offered by some companies, but the conditions for them are slightly different than usual and affects the premium paid as shall be discussed ahead.

In all, it can be safely said that the best home owner insurance today protects your tomorrow.

Choosing A Good Homeowner Insurance Company
Some of the key points to be considered when choosing the best homeowner’s insurance are discussed:

• Do a thorough study of all available options accompanied by consulting friends, family members and most importantly the state insurance department.
• When surfing through the websites or brochures of various insurance companies like hdfc home insurance, new India home insurance, and oriental home insurance make sure to read the ‘complaints’ section too. It would give you an inkling of the kind of problems faced by other people availing insurance from that firm. You should use this info, do a comparative analysis, and choose wisely. One needs good quality assistance when filing a claim.
• Refer to consumer guides or magazines, compare home insurance quotes services, and talk to insurance agents: all these steps can help a great deal in fathoming the kind of services the company provides.
• Do keep the price in mind but it should not be the sole factor when choosing an insurance company for your home. Compare the price range of various companies along with their financial stability charts too. It would give you a good idea about the reliability of the company.
• Compare the homeowner’s insurance coverage and benefits for different plans corresponding to different companies.

Choice Of A Suitable Deductible In The Insurance Plan
A good home insurance is what manifests when you have chosen the deductibles wisely.

Deductibles are the financial amounts that you pay for the damage or loss before your insurance starts to pay the claim. For e.g., if your chosen deductible in the insurance plan is 25000, then of the total damage cost you’ll be paying 25000 while the insurance is liable to cover the remaining expenditure. However, if the total loss is 25000 itself, it shall be borne by you alone, and no financial support by the company shall be provided.

Thus, to have rightly chosen a suitable deductible is crucial to making a good insurance recipe. Having a low deductible makes the company liable for payment of a greater amount but having a high one reduces the premium that you pay periodically. Thus, one should be balanced in one’s choice.

To look for the optimal deductible plan should be a priority over choosing a cheap homeowner’s insurance.

Things To Be Included In The Home Insurance

Remember that a home insurance never includes the land’s cost. The land is unaffected and can’t be damaged by any calamity, thus, shouldn’t be borne the cost for in the policy. It will add redundantly to your premiums.

Ideally, a good insurance covers your home’s building cost and the furniture and valuable belongings inside.  Although, the premiums paid may vary as per the location and design of the house including the safety measures employed too. These factors are discussed further below.

Factors Affecting The Cost Of Home Insurance

Various factors come into play when the cost of your home insurance is to be decided. Location is a prime factor among them. If your home is situated in a disaster prone region, more likely you will be obligated to pay for a higher premium plan. Staying in an earthquake or flood prone area increases the premium value by a considerable amount.

The locality of your house is of importance too in the decision of your premium plan. If your home is situated in a safer location or near a professional disaster tackling department, you may end up paying less, as is desired. Furthermore, if your home is installed with safety measures like burglar’s alarm or fire safety, such measures also lead to a decrease in the premium paid.

The insurance may be cheaper if the electrical and plumbing fittings in your home are less than a certain time period old. One should inquire from the company or look in its brochure for the same.

The structure and design of the home are also crucial in deciding the insurance cost. A disaster resistant built house incurs fewer premium charges than usual ones. So, for the earthquake-prone regions most people prefer a wooden frame house, and in a windstorm-prone region, brick homes are preferred. Also, the cost of coverage varies with the likelihood of the disaster in the region.

Thus, a home insurance calculator should inventory all the above factors.

Extracting The Best Out Of Your Home Insurance

One way to get the best out of the deal is to take multiple insurances pertaining to your other possessions like automobiles etc. from the same company. This scheme allows one to avail special discounts offered on taking multiple insurances from the same firm.

Also, one should review one’s policy every year for at least once. This review should amend the coverage of one’s insurance plan in correspondence with the changes or additions that one did during that particular year.

Thus, there are many factors that govern a suitable plan for one’s house. Nevertheless, having an insured home only adds to the content towards a protected future. Ample homeowner’s insurance companies are out there to help you choose better for you and your loved ones. Do choose prudence over unpredictable and unplanned response towards the many perils that may befall on your largely invested house.

10 Easy Steps To Find Best Car Insurance Company In India

For cashless claim agreement, intimate your car insurance claim by contacting insurance companies in India. The insurance company will then register the claim and give you the claim registration number for all future references. Always offer correct details, such as time frame and time of loss, the extent of injury if any, nature of loss, policy and cover note, chassis and engine variety etc.

Here are the factors you must evaluate before selecting a particular insurance company in India.

Find the right coverage: One of the main steps towards obtaining a perfect insurance is by collecting details about all available guidelines and making a comparison among them. But to do this you need to first have no confusion about your requirements. 

Premium: For insurance plans, the lesser premium you pay, the smaller the amount you can claim. There are some inextricable areas of any robust insurance plan you shouldn’t do without, even if they cost a little more.

Essential riders: There are 7 significant auto insurance riders every car owner must consider in their insurance plan. These riders offer extra yet essential benefits at an extra cost. This include:

• The personal accident cover
• Rental reimbursement rider
• Roadside assistance

And much more

Check popularity: Motor insurance is a two-way street: you pay for the coverage and your insurance company provides the coverage. You need to make sure your organization can pay your damages when required. Going through online reviews, speaking to family and friends, and staying abreast with economic news can help you keep track of the motor insurance company's popularity

Convenience: The insurance company you opt for must have a well-established digital presence so that you can file statements online. A mobile app is a huge plus, especially if it lets you renew your auto insurance plan instantly. This would also make it easy to get an auto insurance as you can get a digitally signed policy through their portal.

Cashless garage network: when you car braks down, you have to choose a garage that can fix it efficiently and without delay. Some advanced insurers offer a cashless garage facility wherein, if you get your car serviced at a garage, you can get it fixed under a cashless claim.

Customer service: Beyond getting yourself an insurance plan, it is important how responsive your insurance company is to any issues or questions you may have. One quick way to check is to visit online and get in touch with them via social networking or online contact forms and assess how quickly and helpfully they respond.

Find the right provider: You can buy car insurance either through a broker or you can buy it online through an aggregator. The disadvantage of purchasing coverage from a broker or a representative is that they tend to look more at the advantage of the organization they represent and that of their own rather than thinking about the advantage of the client. Also, they need to be paid a percentage for their services. If you buy coverage online by collecting and comparing data through an aggregator, you get unbiased details, as well as no percentage charges are involved in the process.

Check licenses: You should always take care that you are getting insurance from a licensed organization for your satisfaction.

Check financial stability and claim agreement ratio: Finding out the financial stability of the insurance company is a step in determining whether or not it will be able to settle your statements during an emergency. It is always advisable to choose a company whose claim settlement rate is high.