Tax deductions on health insurance premiums
ment, SBI General Insurance.
Also in the case of very senior citizens who are above 80 years of age and don’t have health insurance, they can claim a deduction up to ₹30,000 on expenses incurred on medical expenditure.
WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?
In health insurance what you need is an indemnity policy that will pay for your hospitalisation expenses including pre- and post-hospitalisation costs. According to Kapil Mehta, co-founder, Securenow Insurance Broker Pvt. Ltd, buying an adequate cover is essential. “When you are in the market for a health insurance policy, keep in mind that medical inflation is about 15-20%. So a heart procedure that costs ₹10 lakh today will cost about ₹40 lakh in 20 years. So whatever you think your health insurance need is today, buy a cover that’s 4 to 5 times that,” he said.
You need to buy adequate health insurance and ensure your plan has the least number of restrictions. “The two most important restrictions are waiting period on pre-existing ailments and room rent capping as it impacts associated medical expenses. Buy a policy with a lower waiting period and no caps on room rents,” he added.
To make health insurance cost-efficient, families could consider floater policies. A floater policy considers the entire family as one unit, so whoever makes a claim the sum insured reduces by that much for the entire family in the year. However, it’s advisable to not include a very elderly person or someone with a pre-existing ailment as it’s not cost-efficient.
You can also buy top-up plans to buy extra insurance at a lower cost. A top-up is a regular indemnity plan that covers hospitalisation costs but only after a threshold— the deductible is crossed