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Finally, the awareness related to buying health insurance plans is growing day by day. People have realized that buying a health insurance plan is really a good thing that will assist them later in case of needs. Nowadays, different insurance providers are offerings several types of health plans such as individual health plan, Floater plan, critical illness insurance and senior citizen health plan among others.
In today's world, having two or three health insurance plan is a common thing. You may saw that your friends or colleagues are carrying multiple health insurance plans for better protection. In this Era, where the health treatment costs are rising day by day and makes it difficult to get proper treatment with the normal savings that you must have in your savings bank accounts or somewhere, which you have saved for emergencies.
As we discuss above in today's world people buy more than one health insurance plan. Even the health insurance coverage that your employer is providing would not be sufficient. So, overall buying more than one health insurance plan is a good option. Mostly people are purchasing additional health plan, they think that having a single plan of Rs 2 to 3 lac would not be sufficient for meeting the treatment charges in future Some years ago, having a health plan of around Rs 2 lakh was enough for the whole family, but in today's world the same is not sufficient for covering the hospitalization cost for a single person's treatment.
While having multiple best health insurance plans is a good thing it also creates confusion among them. Several questions arise on a policyholder mind when it comes about handling multiple health insurance plans for an individual or family as well.
The common questions that usually occur related to multiple health insurance plan and their claims process are: Should a policyholder claims only from one insurance company? Does there is any requirement of telling about additional covers to the insurance company? Does the hospital would allow the cashless facility for the same disease? What about no claim bonuses if the second plan is not invoked.
The first thing that you should do is to inform your insurers about the additional covers. In case of hospitalization, informing all insurers is a must do thing. By informing insurance companies, you would be able to use the available cover beneficially. The insurance companies would provide the coverage in the same proportion as per the health plan. For e.g. if you have a plan of Rs 2 lakh and one more of Rs 1 lakh. If you place a claim of Rs 1.5 lakh, the first plan would pay the 2/3rd amount that would be around 1 lakh whereas the second plan would pay the rest of the amount.
There are some rules and regulations available for sharing purpose in most of the plans. The claims would be settled by insurers proportionally.
You must be thinking that why the first insurer didn't pay the whole amount as the sum insured amount in the same is Rs 2 lakh which is enough to cover all the expenses. You might be not aware, but now most of the health plans are coming with some limits related to expenses. Like normally there is a limit of around 1% of the sum assured for the room rent when someone gets hospitalized. So if you have a plan of Rs 2 lakh that it would only cover Rs 2000 per a day. Then your health plan of Rs 2 lakh would pay only Rs 2000for the room rent on a daily basis. In result, the insurance company never covers your medical expenses fully. That's why it is advisable to check the features, clauses of the plan in detail. In case of hospitalization, it is essential to inform third party administrators of all the best health insurance plans. And if you have more than two health plans, then inform the insurers about it immediately.
The insured can choose one insurer for the claim if he/she has another health plan. The policyholder has to mention the type of best health insurance plan either individual or floater health plan. Many insurance companies pursue another insurer from whom you are insured for the settlement of claims.
You have to submit all the original invoices and documents at the time of filing claim. If you are claiming from more than one insurer then you should ask for the duplicate copies from the hospitals.
If the hospital is not providing the duplicate copies then submit the Xerox copies of them to the second insurer, as we discuss above that if the insurance companies are in the loop then it would not be difficult for you to get the claim on time.
By Ravi Khurana
