To avoid hospital expenses, people nowadays use health insurance or mediclaim policy. The features of these two are similar and many people consider them to be the same but there is a difference between Health Insurance and Mediclaim which is very important to understand. Because both have different features.
What is Health Insurance?
Health Insurance is such a policy that covers the cost of your treatment and other expenses incurred during treatment. In this, depending on your need, all those factors are covered which can happen during the treatment of the person.
Such as the cost of coming to the hospital, the cost of ambulance, the cost of treatment, the cost of investigation, the cost of post-treatment, etc. are included.
What is Mediclaim Policy?
Mediclaim policy is such a policy in which only hospital treatment is covered. Meaning, the money you will get in this will be available only when you get treated in the hospital.
Difference between Health Insurance & Mediclaim
There is a huge difference between these two.
1) Coverage gap
The first and foremost difference in this is in its coverage. On the one hand, in mediclaim policy where only the cost of treatment in the hospital is covered. On the other hand, in the health insurance policy, apart from the cost of treatment in the hospital, the cost of bringing to the hospital, the cost of care after treatment is also covered. Even the expenses of the ambulance are also covered in this.
2) Difference in diseases
When you buy a Mediclaim policy, the diseases or conditions are pre-defined for which you can get treated. At the same time, under the health insurance policy, you can also get treatment for more than 30 fatal diseases. In this, treatment of cancer, heart attack, kidney failure, paralysis etc. is also included.
3) Difference in Sum Assured
There is also a difference in the sum assured of both the policies. Under Mediclaim, you can take insurance cover up to Rs 5 lakh, while under health insurance plan, you can take a plan for treatment up to Rs 6 crore annually. Along with this, you can also add many things to it. But for higher sum assured and facilities, you will have to pay higher premium.
4) Add on facilities
You get a chance to add many types of add on facilities in the medical insurance plan. Means you can add some more facilities as per your choice, whereas in Mediclaim policy you get only the pre-decided facilities. You are not able to add other facilities in this.
5) Facility to make changes
Once the Mediclaim policy is bought, there is no facility to make any changes in it. Means the premium that has been fixed, you have to deposit the same premium and you get the facilities that have been told to you.
On the other hand, in the medical insurance policy, whenever you want, you can reduce the premium according to your convenience. Along with this, you can also reduce the facilities available in it. But you can do all this after a fixed period.
6) Claim facility
There is also a difference in claiming in both these types of policies. You can claim up to the maximum limit on taking a Mediclaim policy. Even after claiming during the insurance period, you can claim as and when required. But this amount should be within the maximum amount of the policy.
On the other hand, in the health insurance policy, you can take the full amount of the policy for the treatment of serious diseases or if you become disabled in an accident. But after this you will not get any benefit from that policy. On the other hand, for health problems, you can claim as many times as you want. But the claim amount should be within the sum assured only.
7) Recruitment gap
To get money from Mediclaim policy or to get its benefits, it is necessary for a person to be admitted to a hospital. If the person is not admitted to the hospital then he will not get any benefit. You only get the money spent in the hospital in the claim.
On the other hand, in the medical insurance policy, you get the cost of treatment even without hospitalization. For this you have to take this facility in add on. Apart from this, money is available for taking care of the patient at home.
Both types of policy are similar in appearance because both spend the amount spent during treatment in the hospital but Medical insurance policy bears many more of your expenses. You can buy either of the two policies to cover the medical expenses as per your requirement.
If you think that you need a policy only for hospital expenses, then you can buy Mediclaim policy and if you think that all the expenses should be borne by the insurance company in case of illness, then you can buy health insurance policy.
Keep in mind one more thing that many companies offer both Mediclaim Policy and Health Insurance Policy and the features of the policies of all the companies may be different. So before buying them read their terms and conditions carefully, only then buy them.
The more claims and facilities you want, the higher the premium you will have to pay. In Mediclaim policy, you have to deposit less premium, on the other hand, in health insurance policy, you have to deposit more premium because the sum assured is more and the facilities are also more.
