Monday 11 July 2016

What Your Health Insurance May Not Really Cover

These days, everyone knows the importance of securing a health insurance to ensure all possible health risks are averted or dealt with. But while buying a health insurance policy many tend to go blindly by what an insurance agent is projecting rather than reading the fine print. The result of this carelessness can be disastrous considering that in times of need you may get a rude shock. This combination of lack of awareness and blind trust in an insurance agent can cost you dearly in times of need. This blog explores the diseases that your health policy may not cover.

While a host of serious diseases and pre-existing diseases like diabetes, stroke, cancer, heart attack, high blood pressure are covered by most health policies, there are many which are mentioned in the exclusion section. These include:

Procedures related to infertility: For anyone who is not conceiving a child, the stress of undergoing a series of medical procedures and medicinal treatment, can be quite big. Add to this, the discovery that the cost of your medical procedures will not be reimbursed, can add to your worries. One such procedure is an IVF treatment which involves taking medication and administration of medicines via injection. Most health policies will not cover this unless expressly added at a higher cost.

Genetic disorders: These too may not be covered. These include certain forms of thalassemia, anemia and downs syndrome. In insurance jargon, these are considered high risk, pre-existing medical conditions. Therefore, it’s a good idea to read the policy documents very carefully.

Usage of tobacco: This may be an extremely tricky area considering that tobacco usage in the form of cigarettes and other forms can lead to a host of diseases like heart and lung disorders, oral cancer, certain types of tumors etc. This is the reason why insurance companies always ask prospective policy buyers to disclose their tobacco usage to set a premium for the health policy. This factor is also taken into consideration to determine if the prospective client is also displaying signs related to tobacco diseases. In fact if someone fails to disclose their tobacco usage while buying the policy it can be a big problem when a related diseases manifests, at a later stage.

Cancer: This is a tricky disease which causes a huge drain on bodily immunity along with a definite drain on finances. Though with the passage of time, the insurance sector has opened its doors to a plethora of health policies which are cancer specific, it can be quite a difficult task for someone who did not buy this policy when they were healthier. For example, if someone does not have cancer but buys a policy, then it can be beneficial for him to avail its benefits if the disease manifests. But if someone gets the disease and then wants to place a claim by buying a cancer policy then it will not work. It’s also important to know that if you’re in the advanced stages of cancer, that most probably, you won’t be able to make a claim.



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