Congratulations on your bundle of joy! Welcoming a newborn into the family is an extremely joyous occasion. The whole family is wishing and praying for the health, wealth and happiness of the newborn. It’s also a perfect time to assess the health insurance cover for the family.
Assess your current health insurance
It would help if you asked yourself these questions:
Do you have Health Insurance?
If you don’t have a health insurance policy yet, consider buying one. You should also do a similar check for all your dependent family members.
Does your Health Insurance cover everyone in the family?
You might have bought your health insurance when your family was smaller. Your responsibilities might have been less, too, then. You were probably responsible only for yourself then. The chances are that you might have only bought medical insurance for yourself.
Now, the situation might be different. You are probably responsible for your spouse, the newborn and possibly your parents. What about your spouse’s parents? Your sphere of responsibility might have increased over time.
It would help if you checked your current insurance cover and that of your family members. Maybe some of them have their own individual health insurance. Please take note of their policies’ validity, and sum insured.
Is your Health Insurance Adequate?
Have you noticed that the cost of hospitalisation has increased drastically over the last few years? This increase in medical expenses is called medical inflation.
Your current medical insurance cover was probably adequate when you originally bought the policy. It was calculated to cover the cost of hospitalisation then. Would it be able to cover the increased cost of hospitalisation now? You have to factor in medical inflation while assessing your cover.
Do a similar assessment of the policies of every family member, if applicable.
Family Floater Plan for the Family Man
Consider your new set of responsibilities. A family floater plan might be a good fit for your insurance needs now. A family floater plan is cost-effective over buying individual policies for family members. If you have a family floater plan already, you might want to increase the cover considering medical inflation.
Inclusion of a Newborn in the Family Floater Plan
Here are a few things to look at while including a newborn in the family floater plan.
Inform the Insurer
It would be best if you informed your insurer about the new addition to your family. And within the time stipulated in the policy.
Necessary Documentation
You will need to furnish these documents to add the newborn to the family floater plan.
- Birth certificate
- Discharge card from the hospital
- Photograph for cashless card
- Health reports of the newborn
Age
The baby is eligible for health insurance only after 90 days of age for most policies. Most policies cover only early vaccinations and postnatal care for newly added newborns. However, Some health insurance policies do cover newborn babies from day one.
Adulthood and Maturity
Family floater policies cover children up to the age of 21 years. After your child turns 21, they are considered a mature adult. You may not be able to include them in the family floater plan then.
Premium
Your premium will increase after the addition of the newborn. You will need to pay the difference within the stipulated time. Only then will the baby be included in the health insurance cover. The premium for a newborn is much lower than that of adults for most policies.
Co-payment
Some policies have a co-payment clause for a newborn. You would be expected to pay a portion of the hospitalisation expenses in such cases. Check the co-payment section if applicable for your policy.
Tax Benefits
Health insurance premium payments are eligible for tax exemption under section 80D. Also, premium payments made for senior citizen parents are eligible for additional tax exemption.
The Underinsured are Fearful of Hospitalisations
When you and your family are underinsured, there is always the fear of hospitalisations. It is bad enough to see you or a family member go through physical pain. For the underinsured, there’s the additional fear of hospitalisation expenses.
Sudden unplanned hospitalisation of family members can burn huge holes in your finances. It may take a few months or even years to recover from such financial shocks.
The Adequately Insured Person is Worry-Free
You should utilise opportunities like the addition of newborns to reassess your insurance needs. After the reassessment, you can update your family floater policy. Or you can buy a family floater policy if you didn’t have one already.
With your family, including the newborn, fully covered, you need not worry about hospitalisation expenses.
Read Tips on health insurance for new parents