​​Man's average lifespan has become shorter. Even if somebody is strict and punctual about certain health lifestyle, today we cannot guarantee that he/she will not suffer from any disease in life. There can be various reasons like nature of work, lack of sleep, tensions, pollution, quality of food etc, which can lead one to some health related issue. Apparently, cost of surgeries and medicines have increased drastically, hence it has become very difficult for a common man to survive. Even if government arranges different health packages and free treatment, it is not sufficient for every individual.

In order to minimize unforeseen financial loss, one can go for health insurance​ for him/her and his/her family. By paying a small premium, insured can utilize maximum amount of value of sum insured, where all members can also be covered under mediclaim policy for family. As awareness regarding terms of coverages provided by the insurance companies and benefits under health insurance is very low, insurers should come forward to bridge the gap through campaigns and advertisements using internet, print and electronic media. There are few insurers who are exclusively offering only health insurance products, whereas others have health insurance as one of their many products.

Customer has an ambiguity in knowing who can give better coverages at affordable premium? This need can be met by doing online search of the available health insurance products in the market. There are many insurance companies who provide clarity on this front on their websites and referral websites. A customer can differentiate between these available health insurance policies in market and analyze them against each other. Such an analysis would help the customer to have a clear understanding about the product, which in turn would help him/her in picking the right health insurance policy.

One of the major area of concern a customer  may find is claim process. At the time of lodging a claim, customer will be worried about the list of network hospitals and settlement process. Even if the claim process is enclosed along with policy documents initially, most of the customers don’t check the conditions and process thoroughly after receipt of policy document from insurance company.

To avoid this, customers should avail the extended services provided by the insurance companies like - 24x7 call center support for any kind of query, increase in the list of network hospitals, speed up in claim settlement process​ and extending coverage for more diseases etc. This will not only attract customers to get insured under health insurance policy but also helpful to maximize market share.

Article by L Srinivasa Rao

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