Amid the rising cost of living, buying health insurance​ in India has become essential. A health insurance in India acts as the tool to beat the cost of medical care. It is an important financial support for individuals and families in case of medical emergencies. A good health insurance policy ensures to not only provide you with the best possible medical support in the hour of need, but simultaneously it protects you from a financial contingency like situation at the time of medical emergencies.

There are nearly 25 health insurance companies in India. To meet the rising needs these health insurance providers have launched many innovative ​family floater health insurance plans​. Each of these plans serves to some or the other needs of many individuals and their families.

Nevertheless, picking up one family floater health insurance plan as the right choice for your family is a task in itself. Buying a family floater health insurance plan requires better awareness about options available in the market. At the same time, one also needs to take a look into the cost factor. Often in order to avail best benefits individuals opt for family floater health insurance plans with high premium.  However, it is not necessary that the best policy would be the most expensive. There can be many health insurance policies which would suit your and your family’s needs yet not charge high on premium.

At the time of buying a family floater health insurance plan, you would need to keep certain things in mind. A health insurance policy bought with well understanding not only offers your sufficient benefits at realistic rates, but also keeps you away from last minute unpleasant surprises.

Follow the below mentioned steps to compare different health insurance policies:

1. Additional benefits: Often you would find that two different health insurance policies are offering same sum insured. In such a case look for additional or unique benefits, if any, mentioned in the two policies. For instance, some family floater health insurance plans may offer risk coverage for specified critical illnesses, ambulance service and pre-existing diseases.

2. Daycare: Check the list of daycare services offered under the health insurance in India. Though daycare is covered in most of the family floater health insurance plan, the list of the same may be different for different policies.

3. Loading: If during a policy tenure you file a claim, some health insurance companies would charge your extra or additional premium at the time of renewal. Try to look for a health insurance provider who would not charge you loading on premium even if you file a claim.

4. Claim settlement: While many health insurance providers have an external team for claim settlement, these days some health insurance companies have set up in-house claim settlement team. Such in-house claim settlement teams enhance the customer service delivery of these companies and lessens the risk of invalid approval or rejection of claim.

5. Maternity benefits: If you are opting for a family floater health insurance plan, and you are also planning for a baby, try looking for health insurance in India with maternity benefits. Policies which offer maternity benefits generally have a waiting period for same. Therefore, don’t just buy the health insurance policy because it has maternity benefit, also check for the waiting period required to avail the benefit under that policy.
 
6. Exclusion: Every health insurance in India or worldwide has a list of exclusions. Before finalizing on the policy for you and your family, ensure to compare the list of exclusions of different policies.

7. Network hospitals: While it is easy to find companies with network hospitals in metro cities, the same might be difficult in case of small cities or non-metro cities. Check for list of network hospitals your health insurance provider has in your city. Having a network hospital would mean that in case of medical emergency you can avail cashless facility under your policy.