Health insurance is a type of insurance that covers medical expenses that arise due to an illness. These expenses could be related to hospitalisation costs, cost of medicines or doctor consultation fees.Health insurance is an agreement you make with an insurer to have them pay for some or all of your medical expenses in exchange for a premium. Having health insurance can keep you from incurring medical bills you can’t afford to pay out of pocket.
How Much Does Health Insurance Cost In Ghana
The premium and enrolment processing fee from the non-exempt group is GHS30. 00 ( per year. However, the exempt group only pays a processing fee of GHS8. 00 for new enrolment and GHS5.
What To Look For Health Insurance?
- Claim Process.
- Family Health Insurance.
- Selecting the right insurance amount.
- Network hospitals.
- Maternity benefits.
- Pre/post hospitalization.
- Lifetime Renewal.
- Free Medical Check-up.
Definite Benefit Plans Include The Following
- Critical Illness Plan
- Personal Accident plan
- Hospitalization cash benefit plan
Why Is Health Insurance Important?
- Savings
- Security of Family’s health
- High Medical Costs
- Lifestyle changes
How Does Health Insurance Works
The health insurance policy covers the whole or a part of the hospital expenses. People often have questions regarding how insurance works. Take a look at the below pointers:
1. Choose the right cover
When you plan to buy a health insurance policy, make sure that assess your needs. If you have dependent family members including your spouse and children, you may opt for family floater insurance or if you have dependent parents aged above 60 years, then a Senior Citizen plan would an ideal choice. The needs vary from person to person, hence select the insurance type wisely
2. Sum assured
When an insurance company extends insurance coverage in the form of a sum assured, which a policyholder gets in exchange for the premium you pay. Choose the best health insurance cover, which offers sufficient coverage at affordable premium rates.
3. Daily allowance
Some insurance cover offers daily allowance, wherein you get daily hospital cash to cover daily expenses for the number of days one is hospitalized.
4. Claim process
You can claim for health cover in two ways – cashless and reimbursement. The cashless process requires you to seek medicare only at network hospitals of the insurance company. Whether the hospitalization is planned or unplanned, the insurer directly settles expenses with the network hospital. However, in some cases where the cashless facility is not available, you can still claim for health coverage through the reimbursement process. Under this, you have to pay all the hospital bills, and later you need to submit the bills to the insurance to get the reimbursement transferred in your account directly.
5. Renewal & Policy lapse
The term period of health insurance depends on what type of plan you select. Usually, policies are active for a year. If you forget to renew, the policy will lapse. In case of a lapsed policy, the insurer gives you a time period of 6 months during which you need to pay the outstanding premiums and reinstatement costs.
6. No Claim Bonus
In case you do not claim in a particular year, you are entitled to receive no claim bonus. This can be either in the form of a premium discount or addition to the sum assured amount.
Benefits Of A Best Health Insurance Plan
1. Financial Security
With the passing of time, the medical costs are rising and lifestyle-related diseases such as diabetes, cancer, stroke, etc. are also surging. In such a case, having health insurance in the present time is of utmost importance as it can financially protect you against the unavoidable expenses. This way, your savings also remain protected.
2. Domiciliary treatment
Some health insurance companies provide cover for domiciliary treatment, wherein the treatment for certain diseases is provided at home under medical supervision. Note that there is a limitation on the amount and the number of days when availing insurance cover for domiciliary treatment.
3. Free health check-up
Health insurance understands that health is wealth; therefore, it needs consistent health monitoring. As a policyholder, you are eligible for a free preventive health check-up after an every 4 to 5 claim-free year. Some insurers also offer cashless treatments at their network hospital.
4. Tax benefits
You can avail tax benefits under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act. As part of the law, you can avail tax benefit for the expenses incurred on the preventive health check-up of parents above 60 years. Below is the table which shows the tax deductions for various health cover.
5. Coverage against critical illness
To treat life-threatening diseases, the sum assured of a basic health insurance cover would not be enough; therefore, insurers provide critical illness cover as an add-on or rider option. When you seek critical illness add-on cover under your existing health insurance policy, you are entitled to receive lumpsum on detection of diseases like cancer, heart stroke, kidney failure, bone marrow transplant, etc.
Features Of Health Insurance
- Coverage
- Renewal discounts
- Co-payment
- Tax benefits
- Flexibility