List of Different Riders Available With Health Insurance Plans

Riders are extra features that can be added to a health insurance plan. You can get these additional advantages added to your insurance at a very low cost. Health insurance riders greatly increase the breadth of your fundamental insurance plan. For instance, you can increase your health insurance's sum assured or its maternity coverage with the help of suitable riders.

There are certain factors which affect the premium of a rider plan such as the policyholder's age, the extent of the coverage, the kind of policy, its terms and conditions, etc.  Let's now examine the various riders that are offered along with the health insurance.

List of Different Riders Available With Health Insurance Plans

The following 5 riders are available with your health insurance policy -

• Maternity Cover Rider

Maternity coverage is often absent from health insurance plans. Now, if you combine such a policy with a maternity insurance rider, the rider will pay for certain costs related to birthing. The coverage may be limited for pre- and post-delivery costs, but it will mostly cover delivery costs. It's also likely that other costs, like those for a newborn or immunizations, won't be reimbursed at all.

The waiting time, which is typically 24 months but may be extended to 72 months in some plans, must first be satisfied even before the rider can be used.

• Critical Illness Rider

A policyholder's health insurance plan allows for the purchase of a critical illness rider. Additionally, the insurance provider will reimburse him the entire amount for the rider if he is stricken by any of the catastrophic conditions listed in the policy.

Consider that you have a critical illness rider worth Rs 5 lakh along with a health insurance plan featuring a substantial sum insured, so if you are identified as having one of the catastrophic illnesses covered by the policy, you will receive a lump sum payment of Rs. 5 lakh.

Critical illness riders can be purchased separately or along with term insurance policies.

• Accidental Disability Rider

According to this rider, the insurance company will reimburse the policyholder the sum assured (entirely or partially) if he becomes incapacitated as a result of an accident. The extent of the injuries would, however, determine how much would be reimbursed.

If the policyholder suffers from a lifelong disability, such as loss of sight in both eyes, loss of two limbs, or loss of one leg and one eye, and is therefore unable to work, the insurance provider will pay the full amount of the insurance policy. However, if the person is only partially incapacitated and still able to care for themselves, the insurance provider will pay a portion of the principal amount (the exact amount will depend on the injury).

For instance, the policyholder will get 50% of the insurance cover if they lost either eye or one limb. However, he or she will get 15% of the amount insured if a hearing is lost in one ear.

• Room Rent Waiver

A common feature of insurance policies is a rent cap. Consider the following scenario: You have a plan for health insurance with a daily room rental cap of Rs 2,000. Therefore, if you are hospitalised and your daily room fee is Rs 4,000, you will need to pay the difference out of your own money.

Now, if you include a room rent exemption rider with your policy, you can book the room of your choosing (with a few limitations, like it cannot be deluxe) without paying extra.

• Hospital Cash Rider

In accordance with this rider, in the event of hospitalisation, the insured is paid a monetary sum for each day spent in the hospital. The sum varies depending on the policy. This compensates for any wages lost while you were in the hospital.

However, to qualify for the majority of daily hospital cash plans, you must stay in the hospital for at least 24 hours.

Take Away

Your health insurance plan becomes somewhat more comprehensive while also becoming slightly more expensive thanks to riders. And having riders is far more economical when you weigh the premium cost against the need. However, you must make sure that your policy includes the appropriate kind of riders in order to achieve that.

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