Managing Medical Expenses in India

The medical expenses have been going up very fast during last couple of years, all through out the world. India is no exception to this. As most of the people are living below average income in India, it becomes really difficult to manage health services for almost all the people. The average income per person in India is around Rs.2000 ($50) per month. Hence, it becomes almost impossible to buy the proper health insurance policy for the poor people in India. Then, how to manage the medical expenditures in India?

There are few options available for this. For the poorest people, there are government hospitals available in almost all the cities of India. The free medical treatment is given to the people having income below Rs.2000 ($50) per month in such hospitals. However, it will be surely inconvenient to take such free treatment. There will be long queue and very limited hours during the day for availing such treatment. Even the quality of the treatment may not be good. But, there is no other option for such poor people. Some NGOS are working in almost all the hospitals that help the patients in buying some costly medicines. The next option is to have the health insurance policy through various government agencies like United Insurance, Oriental Insurance, which can cover the medical cost of an individual up to Rs.20000 at an estimated premium of around Rs.750 annually per person in the age group of around 50 years. You do not need to furnish your medical reports to such government companies till the age of 50 years. After the age of 50 years, you need to submit some of the medical reports like Electro Cardiogram, blood reports, and chest x ray. Based on the results of these reports, the premium is decided. The average premium for the person of 55 years to cover medical expenses up to Rs.50000 can be around Rs.2000 annually in such government agencies. However, most of the health insurance policies in India cover the medical expenses only if you are hospitalized for at least 24 hours. No reimbursement is given for the medicines that are consumed at home without hospitalization.

The third and the most expensive option is to have the insurance policy from the private organizations like Iffco- Tokio, Bajaj Alianz, ICICI, and IDBI. Such organizations are charging the yearly premium of around Rs.5000 for the couple in the age group of 55 years. These private companies are rather prompt in settling the claims. Moreover, there are no restrictions as to which hospitals and doctors you can use for your treatment. I would recommend such policies to all in view of their prompt services and less processing delays. All the persons must make sure to buy the health insurance policies prior to reaching the age of 50 years. The companies are rather reluctant to approve such policies after the age of 50 years and may demand lots of tests and many exclusions shall be specified in the policy, in case some parameters of your reports are not within specified range. The renewal of the policies can be done very easily without any questions. One more incentive is offered by most of the companies to the policy holders in terms of no claim bonus of 5% of the policy value if no claim is put up during the year. That means that your original policy value of Rs.100000 can go up to Rs.125000 in 5 years with same amount of premium if no claim is put up in 5 years. The practice of buying medical policies have recently picked up in India. Even if you are staying most of the time out of India, I would still recommend all my AC friends to keep such policy for covering the health risks in India, amounting to around Rs.100000 each for you and your spouse.

Some institutes like Unit Trust of India offer some schemes, where you pay the money in one installment based on your age and they reimburse medical expenses of total Rs.500000 between you and your spouse, once you are of 58 years of age. This scheme is known as SCUP (senior citizens unit plan) and is very popular in India. For example, if you pay Rs.2500 ($63) at the age of 25 years, you and your spouse shall be covered for medical expenses up to Rs.500000 at 58 years of age.

As a conclusion, it can be said that you must have proper health insurance coverage in India after the age of 55 years as the cost of medical treatment have gone up considerably in India during last few years.