You will not believe what this couple has done for their family

This Mumbai-based couple has thought of everything when buying health insurance for their family. Read on to know their story.

Palak* (34) and Avinash Poddar* (36) had an epiphany last year. “One of our family friends died in a car accident. He was in his 30s, with two young children and a stay-at-home spouse. After we attended the funeral, we were both quiet,” Avinash remembers. “When we got home, Palak started crying. She said, ‘What will that poor woman do? They have no money and she has no job. What about the children?”

The next day, the couple started scouting for options to protect their family in case a disaster claimed Avinash or Palak, or both. “I drew up a monthly savings plan,” Palak says. “Avinash pays for most the household expenses while my salary goes towards the children’s education. I decided to set aside larger sums of money and invest them in ULIPs. Meanwhile, Avinash started looking for a good family health plan that would have hospitalisation benefits, hospital cash insurance, cashless mediclaim and whichever other benefit was being offered.”

A month later, Avinash also took child insurance plans for his two boys. “It is not enough to merely take family health plans. Suppose we are unable to work for some reason – how do we ensure that our children get the best education? I also took a family health care insurance plan that took my parents, us and our children into its fold. The plan includes critical health insurance, accident disability cover and additional covers for surgery and treatment costs. I now have Rs 10 lakh sum assured health insurance for family.”

As a result of the couple’s foresight, Avinash’s parents and children will never know a day of financial worry in case he is no more. “It is my duty to provide for the family, and help them live a life of dignity and self-d
ependence after my death. Plus, I must insulate my savings and securities from my parents’ future hospitalisation,” he reasons.

When the couple’s family medical insurance plan matures, they will receive the sum assured and the accrued premiums paid, apart from bonuses (if insurance is not claimed in the policy period). Palak’s ULIP investment will also reap dividends in the meantime. This comes to a substantial sum of money. “We are not thinking of the pay-outs. Our primary contention was to protect the family in every way. I think we have achieved that,” smiles Palak.

*Characters in this article are merely illustrative in nature

Benefits of a family health insurance plan

The only constant in life is change – and the possibility of financial burden in the future. Ease the strain with a good family insurance plan.

They say that the only constant in life is change. That is indeed true, except for one aspect: the stress of our lives does not change, neither does the possibility that one may fall seriously ill and leave one’s dear ones to fend for themselves.

Today, there are myriad options that help a person make the right choice about how to safeguard his or her family from future financial burdens. There are a multitude of insurance options that can help pull our families through a financial crisis. But we humans live in the present – and in the present, we are young, healthy and making good money. The prospect of being bed-ridden or poor in the future seems too fantastic to be true.

And so we fail to do the one thing that will secure us in case of accidents or illness – take health insurance for family. A good family health plan takes care of the family’s medical needs when there is a need for hospitalisation or post-operative treatment.

A lot depends on the kind of family health care insurance that one takes, and the features it provides. If it is a cashless hospitalisation plan, the family health care insurance provider deals with hospital administrators and settles the bills claimed. Similarly, if the policy holder has opted for hospital cash in the family medical insurance plan, the patient’s immediate relatives (and beneficiaries of the policy) will receive a daily cash allowance.

Fortunately, there are a multitude of excellent family health insurance plans in India, so customers can choose the best ones to suit their needs. If you are about to purchase a family health plan for the first time, remember the following factors that must be a part of the policy: it must cover the entire family (including dependent parents and/or siblings and/or children), it must cover the maximum numbers of ailments and procedures requiring OPD care in a single day, and account for hospital expenses for at least 30 days.

A desirable family health care insurance plan will cover not just the policy holder, but give each covered family member the same amount of coverage. A bigger factor to consider is the possibility of lifetime renewal – this is useful once the policy holder crosses the age of 60 or 65 years and is not eligible for a new health insurance policy.

Ultimately, the purpose of taking a family health plan is to secure the family against future medical emergencies. If the future is taken care of, you can rest assured in the present.

Understanding a silent ailment – HeartBurn

People the world over experience heartburn at some point in their lives. In India, however, heartburn is a common condition in the urban centres of the country, owing to our penchant for spicy food, erratic diet and lack of exercise. However, some causes of heartburn may be genetic.

It is a myth that heartburn is an ailment related to the heart. It is a burning sensation experienced in the chest region after stomach acids flow up into the food pipe. It may happen occasionally to some people, especially if the lining of their stomach is weakened owing to an illness, but heartburn happens to some people every day. It is commonly referred to as acidity, and certain foods can trigger it.

However, the symptoms of heartburn and heart attack are quite similar; this fools people suffering from a heart attack from acting quickly. Most people experience heaviness and burning in the chest in the first stages of heart attack, and they head to their GP for acidity drugs. A smart and alert doctor can quickly see the signs of a heart attack and get the person admitted at once. However, it is often too late for most people; the initial symptoms soon give rise to other more serious signs like acute chest pain and breathlessness.