Health insurance and mediclaim insurance are often confused and assumed to be similar; however, these are two different types of health cover. While a mediclaim insurance offers coverage only against hospitalization expenses, meaning you can apply for the claim only if you’re hospitalized, health insurance offers comprehensive coverage that goes beyond just hospitalization expenses. Apart from this, there are many other significant differences that may help you decide between the two policies. Read on to know about them.
Pre And Post Hospitalisation Expenses
Pre hospitalization expenses are those expenses that you need to incur before getting your treatment started, such as medical tests, whereas post-hospitalization expenses are those expenses that you need to incur after your treatment, such as medicines, follow-ups etc.
A mediclaim policy covers just the hospitalization and treatment cost of specified illnesses upto a particular limit while excluding pre and post-hospitalization expenses.
However, a health insurance policy offers comprehensive coverage and includes pre and post hospitalisation expenses as well, in addition to the treatment cost.
2. Maternity Benefits and Daycare Procedures
As mediclaim insurance policy in India just covers the hospitalization expenses, they exclude day-care procedures and maternity-related costs, be it normal delivery, medical treatment for the child or caesarean. However, if you sign up for a health insurance policy with standard coverage, it would cover daycare procedures, domiciliary treatment, and other benefits.
3. Cost and Benefits
Since the benefits and services are restricted in mediclaim insurance, the cost might be lower than a health insurance policy. However, while buying a health cover, it is advisable to analyse carefully and make a wise decision by prioritizing and focusing on benefits. And this is why buying a health insurance policy is preferable as it offers comprehensive coverage. If you are covered under a health insurance policy with adequate coverage and minimum exclusions, you might not have to spend anything out of your pocket for your treatment or other related medical expenses.
4. Flexibility
As mediclaim insurance does not offer many benefits, it has a narrow scope of flexibility. However, health insurance offers a wide range of benefits and flexibility as you get to choose certain specifications, such as rider options and adjust the coverage according to your needs.
5. Limit of Sum Assured
Usually, under mediclaim insurance, the limit of sum assured does not exceed Rs 5 lakhs, whereas, in a health insurance policy, you can choose a significantly higher sum assured. Even if you cannot currently pay a higher premium, you can opt for a health insurance policy with a lower sum assured and increase the sum assured later while renewing your policy.
Apart from this, you get several other benefits under a health insurance policy, making it a preferable choice.
However, if you are confused about whether you should opt for mediclaim insurance or health insurance, it would depend on a number of factors. Find below a few of them:
- Your current financial condition
- You and your family members’ current health status.
- You want to opt for long term planning or short term planning
- Whether you require flexibility in your health cover or not
- You want to opt for add-on covers or not
- Whether you want to pay a lower premium or higher premium currently
- Your family members’ life stage, age and other specifications
After going through the above-mentioned differences between mediclaim insurance and health insurance, you would be able to make a fair decision. However, it is best to opt for a health insurance policy as it offers a number of benefits that might make a significant difference and help you save a considerable cost if in case you are diagnosed with a disease.
Besides, if you buy such insurance with a credible insurance provider such as TATA AIG, you can stay assured about exceptional services, remarkable customer support, time to time discounts and offers, and much more, making them one of the preferable insurance providers in India.
