Today Health plan has become the need of every individual and everybody wants to ensure the security of health of oneself and the family as well. Moreover, with the changing lifestyle health problems have become very common. So everyone needs to protect oneself from any such risk that may arise in life. With the improvement in healthcare and the rising inflation the cost of health care has also increased. So having a health insurance policy has become essential. There are various plans readily available in India to cover every aspect of a medical emergency. Some popular types of policies are explained below:

Individual Health Plan:This Health plan covers entire hospitalization, coverage details depend on the Sum Assured taken and premium paid. This health insurance policy is designed to cover an individual against various illnesses with cashless hospitalization and other add-on features. The entire sum insured is available for only one individual and the premium is determined by the age of individual covered under the policy. It is a policy where each insured member is entitled to the entire amount separately.

Family Floater:This Health insurance plan is especially made to cover families against diseases under a single cover. This plan is quite similar to the individual health plan; however, it also provides complete health coverage to the whole family. So, Family floater insurance offers a fixed sum insured for the family members that can be availed either by an individual member or as a sum total for treatment of one person. This single policy will cover all the members of the family, thus it reduces your task of buying numerous health plan for your loved ones and manage it regularly. Basically the family floater plan provides coverage to the insured, his/her spouse and children, but there are some plans available which offer coverage to your siblings, parents, and in-laws as well. Nowadays the family floater health plan has gained increased popularity. There are around 30 companies which are offering health insurance plans in India, buying the best floater plan among these insures is not a tough task as we have the comparison services which makes it more easier for you to compare and buy.

Critical Illness policy:This is usually brought as a standalone policy or a rider for certain critical diseases related to hear, brain and other important internal organs. Many of them pay the Sum Assured on mere detection of such critical illnesses. By buying a critical illness plan, you don't need to rely on any other person for your illness and expenses of its treatment. The critical insurance plan is a good choice as it provides coverage when you are seriously ill and don't have savings to clear the medical bills and related expenses. The money which you get from critical illness insurance will help you in clearing medical bills, home modification, and many other things. However, as the treatment of such diseases is expensive so the premium is also on a higher side.

Pre-Existing Disease Cover:Pre-existing disease cover includes the diseases or illness that the policyholder had before buying the policy. After a waiting period of 2-4 years, various policies offer a cover against the pre-existing diseases -e.g. - diabetes, hypertension, kidney failure, cancer etc.

Health Plan for Senior Citizen:According to IRDA, every insurer must provide cover for people up to the age of 65 years. This health insurance plan is designed especially for senior citizens, offering protection from health issues during old age.

Preventive Healthcare:This health plan offers to take care of you and not let your fall sick. This includes preventive care treatments like regular checkups, consultation charges and other tests or x-ray fees concessions. The idea is to monitor your health at timely intervals and provide overall health care benefits. Preventive Healthcare is medical care rendered not for a specific complaint but focused on prevention and early-detection of diseases. Some health insurance policies limit coverage for preventive care services, while others encourage such services.

Maternity Health Insurance:This health plan covers maternity and additional expenses, including both pre and post natal care, child delivery (normal or caesarean), which sometimes lead to vaccination of newborn babies. Maternity insurance covers the new-born baby up to the validity of the maternity insurance policy. It also covers ambulance charges for ferrying the mom-to-be to the nearest network hospital of choice.

Personal Accident Cover:These plans are frequently provided as riders to standard health insurance plans, which provide coverage for hospitalization and reimbursement of medical expenses, in the case of an accident. These are issued as fixed benefit policies, where specified sums are paid on occurrence of specified or unforeseen events such as accidents. Such events can result in death or disability of the individual. However, the payout is not related to the expenses incurred.

Cashless facility:Insurance companies have associations with different hospitals and if an individual undergoes treatment in any of these hospitals he/she can avail cashless facility.

Pre and Post Hospitalization:This feature of health insurance policy takes care of both pre and post hospitalization charges for a period of 30 to 60 days depending on the plan purchased. It takes into account expenses incurred during a certain number of days prior to hospitalization and post hospitalization for a specified period from the date of discharge as part of the claim, provided the expenses are related to the disease/sickness.

Daily Allowance:Some policies also cover expenses incurred daily for eg. Expenses incurred while commuting, food or refreshments etc.

Health checks facility:Under this facility the expenses for a general health checkup are also borne by the insurer.

Cost of medicines and other expenses:Some policies also bear the expenses incurred on medicines, diagnostic materials, surgical appliances, radiotherapy etc.

Miscellaneous expenses:Some premium policies also cover miscellaneous expenses like expenses incurred in dental treatment, domiciliary treatment if being recommended by a doctor, expenses incurred on hearing aids, spectacles etc.

Ambulance charges:The policy holder is free from burden of transportation or ambulance charges as it is paid by the insurer. This is an add-on benefit and you should have opted for it while purchasing.

No Claim Bonus:NCB or No Claim Bonus is a benefit provided if the insured does not claim for any treatment in the previous year. Benefit could be in any form, either an increment in the sum assured or a discount in premium. You can avail this benefit on renewal.

Tax benefits:The premium paid towards health insurance is also eligible for tax benefit under section 80 D of the Income Tax Act. Factors affecting the premium cost- The premium paid towards the insurance policy depend on various factors like age and prior medical history. The older the individual the higher will be the premium. Moreover past claim history also affects the premium rates. If you are paying a premium amount then you are liable to get tax rebate under section 80D of Income Tax Act for a maximum value of Rs.25000 for Indians in the age group of 18 to 50 years and Rs.30000 for senior citizens.

Your current age: Lower premium for younger buyers.

Health Condition: If you do not have any medical issues in your past, then you can get some discounts from the insurance company, but if you have any existing issue then it can raise the amount of your policy. There are many companies which deny providing policy if you have any medical problem, but still there are few companies which can provide the desired features to you.

Members included: The premium depends on the number of insured members.

Room preference:Your room preference during hospitalization matters. Remember costlier room means higher treatment charges too!

Pre-existing medical condition: Your premium will depend on any pre-existing medical conditions.