It is no secret now that healthcare in any part of the world today is quite expensive and many find it very difficult to pay for treatment. Even if one is financially sound, it makes no sense to put all your savings into paying off hospital bills. However, such a contingency may be avoided if you have a health insurance plan in place and that will take care of yours and your family’s need when they arise. Such insurance can provide you with the much needed support during a medical emergency and a number of benefits come with it.
A health insurance plan helps to stay covered for many aspects of healthcare. Hence, they will provide coverage against hospitalization and cover for all kinds of expenses during the hospital stay like for medicines, the cost of the bed and the room, fees for nurses, doctors included. The ambulance charges will be covered, and other costs of treatment. Once the patient is back home, the post hospitalization treatment expenses will also be covered along with expenses for when the insured does not earn.
So, when the need of a claim arises, one needs to file for the claim for which you need the reimbursement for.
Here are some things you need to know about Health Insurance Claims:
- Before buying a health insurance plan, be sure that you have checked the claims procedure even before you buy the policy. This is basically what sets apart one insurance plan from another. There are cashless claims and reimbursement claims and the former is mostly preferred by the customers.
- In case of cashless claims, if one makes a claim on one of the network hospitals that is affiliated to the insurance company, then the policy holder will not have to pay any money to the hospital and the insurance company will settle the bills directly. All the medical expenses will be borne directly by the insurance company and it is better to opt for a insurance company that has a higher number of network hospital so that no matter where you are, your claims will get settled.
- In case of reimbursement claims, the policy holder will have to pay the bills first from his own pocket in case the treatment does not take place in a network hospital. Hence, at the time of treatment, all the expenses have to be borne by the insurer and they are later reimbursed to him or her by the insurance company. Such claims take time as the insurance company will have to be provided with proof of the expense and likewise all the bills and other documents have to be maintained meticulously to show them to the insurance company. One disadvantage is that one should have large reserves of many in their own hand to pay for the expenses first.
- What one needs to keep in mind that there are a lot of other intricacies involved when one thinks of buying an insurance but mostly what everyone thinks about is the cost of paying premiums. While that is definitely a major concern, it should not be the only parameter on which you decide whether you want to opt for a particular policy or not. While some policies have higher premiums, they probably provide way more benefits, have a better reputation while settling claims and also have better customer service because of which it is easier for you make your claim and get reimbursed. Factor in these aspects before you finally choose for a health insurance plan because at the end, it also comes down to the fact whether your claim is met and granted when you need the money the most.