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Its not uncommon to find people among us who have suffered at the hands of the mediclaim insurers during claim settlement. There are numerous instances where claim is rejected by the health insurance company on technical/material grounds.  This defeats the basis purpose of getting help when needed. So, what can you do to avoid this? Try these steps :-  1. Check Fine Print for Expense Coverage - The mediclaim polices generally list down the limit of expenditure that is allowed to reimbursed under room rent/ambulance hire charges etc. This  limit varies between policies of various companies and hence before you get yourself admitted to any hospital , it is always advisable to check the expense limit allowed as per your mediclaim .Any extra expenditure done on account of thee heads is generally borne by the patient himself/herself.   2. Check for exclusion in Diseases - You must also check the number and nature of diseases covered under your mediclaim before you buy...

After stupendous success of mobile number portability introduced by TRAI , IRDA too has taken a cue and introduced health insurance portability in India from 1st October 2011. This is a huge step in the right direction considering there was lot of discontentment among the consumers about the manner in which they were being treated by their health insurers. Some of the common grouses were: 1. The health insurance companies mandated on a waiting period for covering pre existing diseases to each and every customer once he comes in their fold, irrespective of whether or not the person had any other policy where he had served out the waiting period. So in effect , every time you changed the company , you would have had to start the waiting period all over again. 2. The insurers generally were resorting to increasing the renewal premium by a steep margin for those policyholders who have had a claim in the year. This was mostly done to discourage the policyholders from renewing the policy wi...

Those of us who are in India, we have been inundated with news of tussle between SEBI and IRDA to control/regulate the ULIPS launched by insurance firms. The SEBI's contention was that since ULIPS are primarily a MF in the garb of insurance plan with huge upfront charges, SEBI should have right over regulating that product, while IRDA position was that since ULIP is an insurance product it will be regulated by IRDA. This dispute was also referred to court,but, finally the finance minister intervened in favour of IRDA. So, it is settled now, IRDA is the regulator who will regulate ULIPS. So what does this mean for an average investor like you and me?? Is it good or bad?? The answer is both, good and bad. Let us see why IT IS GOOD BECAUSE 1. ULIPS to become relatively a cost effective saving tool- My displeasure over ULIPS as an investment product is well known to the readers of this blog. I feel they are one of the worst products that one can invest in.The reason is its atrociousl...

Health insurance is supposed to be one of the first and foremost things that one needs to plan for while planning for his/her financial future. It aims to provide cover against any untoward medical expenditure that might come up in future. Health insurance is a very important and useful product,something that is usually recommended for one and all. But, these health covers also tend to have an unintended bad effect on the overall cost of medical care. With the increase in penetration of health cover among vast majority of Indians, the hospitals have started to benefit greatly from this. The overall medical cost is on the rise . Let us examine in detail, as to how health insurance may be pushing the overall cost of medical care up ,especially in private hospitals/nursing homes. 1. People with medical insurance prefer deluxe rooms/hospitals - People having medical cover tend to go to hospitals which are expensive and are supposed to provide "deluxe amenities". The rationale ...

Generally the insurance companies pay upto 60-70% of the total repair cost of your car post an accident , under the car insurance cover. This is because the insurance companies pay based on the depreciated value of the car, do not pay for rubber,glass ,plastic ,fibre items etc. This results in significant monetary burden on the owner during car repair inspite of him having insurance cover. However, there are various add ons which are available in the market which will ensure that your cover on the car goes up and you are saved from the stress of paying for your repairs post any eventuality. Following are few of the options that one can look at 1. On Road Protector - Under this option, the insurance company pays for the assistance you might need in case of your vehicle getting immobilised post an accident. This will cost less than Rs 1000 per year. 2. Return to invoice - Biggest issue with vehicle insurance is that they tend to pay you the depreciated cost of the vehicle. So in case, ...