You might ignore the fine print in a health insurance policy wordings but it remains heavy on your pocket. Deductible in health insurance is one amonst the fineprint term, which you should not ignore. Here is why?
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What does Deductible in health insurance Mean?
Deductible is the amount that policy holder have to pay before insurance company pay bill payment.
Deductible is the percentile amount/ fixed amount of the medical hospitalization bill that customers have to pay from their own pocket, before making an insurance claim.
Here you will pay the Deductible amount first and after payment of this amount the insurance company will pay the rest of the claim amount to you or directly to the hospital.
Usually deductible amount is added as a clause in health insurance plans, to ensure there are no frauds or scams made and only genuine claims are raised by the customer.
What is deductible in health insurance with example
For instance you have to undergo or surgery that will cost around 2 lakh. But your policy has a clause of deductible of Rs.20000.
In this case you will have to pay 20000 out of 200000 and the company will pay rest of 1.80 lakh of the claim amount.
Deductible can be in rupees or in percentile term also.
In some policies there is a deductible of 20% of the bill amount. In such a case, for a 2 lakh rupees claim you have to pay 20% of 200000 in a bill.
Factors which impact the deductible amout in health insurance
Insurance deductible can be decided on the basis of the few factors such as
- any pre existing disease before you buy yourhealth insurance such as diabetes, asthma etc
- your current health status
- your age
- any past medical condition
- your lifestyle and habits like smoking and drinking
Types of deductible
Voluntary deductible
Here the insured person can choose the deductible amount themselves. Nowadays companies are giving voluntary deductible options ( to lower the premium).
In case you choose the voluntary deductible, you have to pay a comparatively lower premium as compared to without a deductible policy.
Compulsory deductible
This deductible is fixed by the insurance company. One has to compulsory pay the deductible amout before making the claim for any particular disease or overall claim amount.
Health insurance companies usually have compulsory deductibles for certain specified diseases such as cataract,hernia etc.
Cumulative deductible
Cumulative deductible is only applicable on family health insurance plans.The family floater plans cover all the members of the family.
In such policies insurance cover is shared by all the people insured andcumulative deductible is applicble before any insurance claim is made.
Why should you opt for insurance deductible
If you choose to take insurance deductible then you have to pay a reduced premium. Higher the deductible amout lower is the premium.
Additional Reading
HDFC Optima Secure vs Optima Restore – Which one to buy
One can alternatively increase the sum assured cost effective way by adding a super top up plan to the base plan.
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