Types of Health Insurance Plans in India

India has several health insurance companies, offering a range of diverse plans.

All those plans can fit into the following types of health insurance plans:

• Individual Health Insurance plans
• Family health insurance
• Senior citizen insurance plans
• Group health insurance
• Rider Plans

1. Individual Health Insurance plans

An Individual health insurance plan covers the medical expenses of people on an individual basis. More people can be added to the plan if desired by paying an extra premium. Under this policy, every member has a separate sum insured amount. It covers pre and post hospitalization charges, daycare treatment, ambulance charges, cash allowance among other things.

2. Family Floater Health Insurance Plans

A Family Floater plan covers all members of the family under a single sum insured amount, unlike the individual plan that offers separate sum insured amounts to every member in the family. The premiums are cheaper as they only contribute to a single sum insured. It covers pre & post hospitalization charges, daycare treatment, ambulance charges, cash allowance among other things.

3. Senior Citizens Health Insurance

Senior Citizen plans are tailor-made for people above the age of 60, catering to medical needs that are specific to them. It’s important to have separate plans for the elderly members of your families as most other family insurance plans only include people below the age of 65. It covers pre & post hospitalization charges, domiciliary hospitalization, daycare treatment, ambulance charges, cash allowance, the cost for surgeries, and AYUSH treatment, depending on the company policy.

4. Group Health Insurance

Group Health Insurance is usually offered by the employee’s company, including all members working for the company. The premiums to be paid are cheaper and are usually deducted from the salary of the individual. However, the insurance plan only covers you until you work for the organisation. Group Health insurances are also limited in their scope for coverage and can not be customized according to your requirements, hence relying only on a group health insurance is sometimes not enough.

5. Critical illness health insurance

Critical illness insurance covers diseases that are long term and serious in nature. Most critical illnesses require expensive treatment and procedures, regularly and for a long time. Hence it's important to purchase health insurance for it. Most health insurance plans have a rider plan that covers critical illnesses and it's wise to add them to the base policy for extra coverage.

6. Maternity Health Insurance Plan

Maternity Health Insurance plans are typically offered as riders that can be added to the base policy. It's designed for families expecting children and covers expenses during the pregnancy, covering appointments with doctors, payments for tests, and charges during delivery along with postnatal expenses. The process of pregnancy can be a complex and expensive one and hence it's beneficial to have a health insurance plan for the same.

Conclusion

India has a diverse range of plans of which most of them can fit into 6 types of health insurance plans: Individual Health Insurance plans, Family health insurance, Senior citizen insurance plans, Group health insurance, Critical Illness Plans, and Maternity plans.