Buying health insurance plans has gained importance during Covid-19 pandemic – Here's why

From the financial point of view, Covid-19 pandemic has brought the much-needed focus on health insurance coverage. Covid-19 has clearly outlined that you need health insurance policies with adequate coverage for all members of the family – from a newborn to the senior most family member.

- Ashwini Kumar Sharma

After the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, there were three major trends that have been witnessed. One, there were individuals without any coverage who scrambled to buy new health insurance policies, secondly, there were individuals having health plans, but had inadequate coverage and thirdly, individuals having health insurance policies only in their own name and not for family members.

Buying health insurance has always been looked upon as a risk mitigating tool to tackle increasing medical costs. By paying a small premium, you can buy health coverage, or the sum insured, an amount up to which your insurer will reimburse the hospital. This ensures you do not have to dip into your savings to meet medical bills.

The Covid -19 pandemic has worked as a wake-up call for many individuals after seeing people spend lakhs of rupees on Covid treatment. Many families after getting infected have ended-up spending Rs 15-30 lakh on the hospital expenses owing to coronavirus. People have slowly realized the importance of adequate health insurance. Infections like Coronavirus or any pandemic can be contracted by any person at any age. So, it is better to buy a personal health insurance policy even though you have been covered through the office as you never know how soon you will change your job.

If you are young and healthy, do not procrastinate about buying a health insurance policy. A youngster should not wait to get older or get any chronic illness as it makes sense to buy health insurance when you are young. Many youngsters contemplate buying health cover when they get old. By the time one is a middle-aged person, there could be medical conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, etc. and may get a limited cover. The younger you are, lower is the premium and you can buy high cover too.