The complexities of health insurance

Health insurance is very important for the protection of your health. After the Coronavirus pandemic, people have understood the importance of this insurance well. Still, 43 percent of people in the country have not bought health insurance policies. It is true that in the last two years, the premium of health insurance policies has become almost 40 percent expensive. It is understandable that people don’t want to buy health insurance due to inflation, but there are some shocking facts.

According to a survey by fintech company Policy Bazaar, people are not buying health insurance due to expensive premiums and complexities. 19 percent of respondents said that they do not understand how health insurance policy works? These people have not bought this insurance due to its complexities.

What is the situation?
According to National Health Profile-2021, on being admitted to a hospital, more than 80 percent of the one-time expenses incurred have to be paid by people from their own pocket. This is called ‘out of pocket’ medical expenses. The World Health Organization report states, that, due to such medical expenses, more than 5 crore people in India become poor every year. Due to increasing expenditure on health, every year 8-9 percent people slip below the poverty line.

Complexities of Health Insurance
New policies are being launched every day in the field of health insurance. Which policy will be better for whom? It becomes difficult for common people to choose. People first see the feature of OPD cover. OPD and checkup expenses in hospital are not included in a policy with a cover of one or two lakh rupees. In such a situation, people think that if OPD expenses are not being covered, why should they buy this type of insurance? Most of these people cannot estimate that they may have a serious illness at some time. Similarly, when, you buy a new policy, some diseases are not covered at that time. There are many diseases that are covered only after one or two years.

In some schemes in which the full room rent of the hospital is not available. A part of this has to be paid by the insuree from his own pocket. Common people only think of buying a normal policy. There are so many conditions attached that you will have to pay a part of the total cost of treatment from your own pocket. Due to this, people back out from buying the policy.

So, how will it become easier to decide which health insurance policy to buy?

According to experts, inflation in health insurance premiums in the country is almost three times higher than normal. Due to this reason, the premium of health policies is increasing. Insurance companies will not cut premiums due to rising costs. In such a situation, the government will have to reduce the cost of treatment in hospitals. Companies promote selling health insurance only through their agents. The premium includes a commission of up to 20 percent of the agent, which makes policies expensive. Like term insurance, health insurance should also be made available online. Along with this, promotion and publicity of standard policies like Arogya Sanjeevani should be increased. This can make health protection cheaper for common people.