What is Cashless Health Insurance?
Cashless medical insurance eliminates the trouble of managing expenses at hospitals during medical emergencies. The insurance companies directly negotiate with the network hospitals to settle the cost of the treatment. The major challenge faced during any medical emergency is to clear the hospital bills during or after treatment. This can be streamlined by opting for a cashless health insurance facility. It bypasses the trouble of managing funds to settle your medical bills. To utilize this facility, the insured person can claim the sum insured in the network hospitals listed by the insurer.
Cashless vs Reimbursement Claims in Medical Insurance
There are two ways in which you can claim your medical expenses incurred during or after hospitalization i.e. cashless and reimbursement.
Cashless Claim
To utilize the cashless hospitalization facility, the insured person must be admitted to any of the network hospitals listed by the insurer.
Reimbursement Claim
While Cashless hospitalization facility is offered only in the network hospitals, there can be circumstances where the insurer might get admitted to a hospital not included in the list of network hospitals. In these cases, the insurer needs to settle the entire hospital bill, and later they can raise a claim to reimburse the expenses.
Benefits of Cashless Medical Insurance
- Extensive Coverage: It provides complete financial protection against pre and post-hospitalization, in-patient care, day-care procedures, health check-ups, etc. Many insurance companies grant added facilities like parental care, critical illness cover, maternity, and newborn child cover, etc to make the coverage more comprehensive.
- Instant Cashless Treatment: It is the most effective way to avail immediate medical facilities at network hospitals. Generally, the network hospitals are spread across the country. Hence, this facility can be utilized conveniently even while traveling.
- Worry-free Access to Funds: With cashless health insurance, the treatment can be availed at any time without worrying about the financial situation at the moment. Cashless insurance offers a sense of security as there is no worry of depleting savings or liquidating assets. You will be in a better position to handle the unforeseen situation with the financial security offered by cashless health plans.
- Tax Benefits: Apart from providing convenience benefits and financial security, a cashless medical policy also gives tax benefits. Under Section 80D, the premium amount paid is eligible for tax benefits i.e. up to 25,000 Rs for people below 60 years, and for senior citizens, it’s up to 50,000 Rs.
Things to Consider before Buying Cashless Medical Insurance:
- Pre and Post-Hospitalization
- COVID-19 Coverage
- Network hospitals list
- Emergency or planned hospitalization
- Policy Inclusions and Exclusions
- Preventive Annual Health Check-Ups
- No Claim Bonus(NCB)
- Claims Procedure
- Ambulance Cover
- Daycare Expenses
- Claim Settlement Ratio
Positively, the knowledge shared above will assist you in choosing the most suitable cashless medical insurance plans. Over the years, cashless health insurance has become the most favored solution in case of medical emergencies. If you wish to purchase a cashless medical policy to support you during unexpected circumstances, Care Health Insurance offers some of the best medical policies to match all your personal and family requirements.