A mediclaim insurance policy offers the benefit of hospitalisation and both public and private sector insurance companies offer mediclaim policies in India. Hospitalisation due to a sudden illness, an unexpected incident and unforeseen surgery, and domiciliary hospitalization, which generally lead to hospitalisation for more than three days are all coverable under a proper mediclaim policy. This policy is also valid for the treatment of an illness or injury to someone who could not be shifted to a hospital or a clinic and required proper hospitalisation facilities at home because of unavailability of hospital accommodation. Staying at home due to asthma, diarrhoea or arthritis will not be covered under domiciliary hospitalisation.

Mediclaim policies are available in the market, which offer coverage to an entire family. These days, you have to pay a minimal premium in exchange for very good benefits. In a medical policy, a beneficiary is named who will get the claim pay-out(s) in case of the death of the policyholder. Mediclaim is different from a health insurance, as mediclaim is specific to the expenses that arise out of hospitalisation and health insurance is a comprehensive cover for all medical needs. Mediclaim does not cover dental expenses or cosmetic surgery expenses. Mediclaims offer cashless policies where the insurer directly pays to the healthcare provider- be it a hospital or a clinic. This reduces the financial burden on the policyholder considerably, provided they can concentrate on the treatment completely. A few mediclaim providers in the market are Max Bupa health insurance, Star health mediclaim, Aditya Birla health insurance, Religare health insurance, Royal Sundaram health insurance etc.

Mediclaim Policy Premium Calculator

The mediclaim premium is the amount of money that needs to be paid to the insurance provider periodically, in order to avail the medicalaim coverage as and when needed and this premium also keeps the policy in force. Mediclaim policy premium calculator will help you choose the best mediclaim insurance policy, based on your needs corresponding details entered. Mediclaim policy premium calculator allows us to compare and analyse different policies available in the market, and thus choose the best policy based on your needs.

Health insurance premium calculator is based on several factors. The insurers have their own list of factors that include your age, pre-existing medical conditions, individual medical history, and the whole family’s medical history etc. For instance, the amount you paid as premium at the age of 25 years would be lesser than the amount that you will need to pay at the age of 45 years. This is because with age, the treatment expense also increases and so does the premium. This is just because you are more prone to aliments at the age of 45 than at the age of 25. Mediclaim policies, mostly, require a pre-policy medical check-up most insurers have their own set of doctors to do so and the application is filled based on the test results.

If you have a pre-existing illness/ailment or you are a chain-smoker or consume alcohol quite frequently, then details like these entered in the premium calculator would automatically hike the premium. It is mandatory that you fill up these details honestly because if you deliberately hide such information, there are chances that your policy gets rejected if they find out the same in your medical report.

How does a Mediclaim Policy Premium Calculator Help?

Usually, mediclaim policies and insurance policies are complex and the policy documents have hidden terms and conditions which sound like Greek and Latin to a layman. A situation wherein you don’t understand a specific insurance term might lead you to a place where you end up paying more premium than what you actually had to pay. This is where a mediclaim policy premium calculator helps you choose the best policy at an affordable premium, taking your needs into consideration. Here are a few benefits mediclaim policy premium calculator:

• Well, before buying a mediclaim policy in India, you can calculate the policy premium, which would let you discuss with your family members in advance regarding financial planning wisely.
• You can choose the apt mediclaim policy from the list of plans, based on what the calculator offers after adding your details.
• The add-ons and riders can be added as well as removed from the given policy options, based on your needs and monetary status.
• There is no need to go, fix an appointment with your insurer, meet them in person, discuss various plans and get confused about the list of benefits, and then go blindly for a policy that your insurer suggests you as the best. You can access the Mediclaim policy premium calculator whenever and wherever you need and choose the best policy in accordance with your needs.

Star Health Mediclaim

Star Health is one of the pioneer companies across India and their services are available to a few countries. The company has more than 340 branches across India. The company offers online purchase and renewal, which makes your job much simpler and hassle-free to an insurance policy.

Star health mediclaim insurance is one of the best policies mentioned under mediclaim policies India. You can avail this cover when you are in the age group of 18 to 65 years. There is no limit on the rental charges of the hospital room or the treatment charges. Daily cash benefits during hospitalisation are also provided. Over 400 day-care procedures and processes in hospitals are covered by this policy.

For every 3 claim-free years, there is a free medical check-up offered by this policy. It also offers coverage for dental and ophthalmic treatments on out-patient basis. On a claim-free renewal, there is a chance to get 100% increase in the sum assured. Senior citizens are covered from the age of 60 to 75 years and they don’t require a pre-medical check-up. From the second year onwards, this plan covers the pre-existing illnesses also. This is one of the policies in the market, which offers guaranteed lifetime renewals.

Star Health Mediclaim Premium Calculator:

Star Health Insurance Company helps you conveniently calculate the annual premium of a range of its insurance policies. For this, you must provide the details required by the calculator and this premium calculator will help you calculate your annual premium of a policy that you are planning to buy. You can choose to pay the premium annually or on a month basis. The following is the information you need to enter to calculate the premium:

• The sum assured or coverage
• The policy tenure
• The number of members to be included in the plan – 1 if it is for you or the exact number of people in your family if the plan is going to be family floater
• The birth date of the senior most insured person in your family

Based on the entered details, the calculator will give you a basic premium payable. The factors to be noted here are the amount and the number of family members entered in the calculator should be accurate and not approximate. An approximate value will give approximate premium, which will vary when you pay the actual premium to your insurer.

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There are 30 crore asthmatic patients across the globe and what’s more surprising is that a tenth of that population comprises of Indians. If we go through clinical statistics, asthma is one of the most common lifestyle diseases in India. Due to the ever-rising air pollution levels and deteriorating climatic conditions, every 10 seconds someone is bound to experience a potentially fatal asthma attack.

So first, let’s understand what is Asthma?

Asthma is a condition in which an individual’s respiratory tract (the passage that carries air to & from the lungs) is inflamed or swollen, which makes it extremely sensitive to any type of irritant and hence, increases the risk of allergic reactions. As a result of the inflammation, the patient’s respiratory tract contracts which in turn restricts the passage of air and eventually leads to difficulty in breathing, a feeling of tightness in the chest, and coughing.

What can you do Personally to Handle your Asthma Attacks?

If you are an asthma patient, you must have heard about the Asthma Action Plan. This plan not only helps you tackle your own condition, but also your child’s asthma (if s/he is also afflicted) by keeping a track of what to avoid, which medicines to take, and when to take them. An Asthma Action Plan has three different zones:

1. The first one is Green Zone: In this zone you can breathe normally without any difficulties and no symptom of your asthma arises.
2. The second one is Yellow Zone: In this zone, you start experiencing some asthma symptoms such as wheezing, coughing, problems breathing, etc.
3. The third one is the Red Zone: Your asthma symptoms and attacks start affecting your day-to-day life and normal activities, as breathing becomes extremely difficult.

You can always create an asthma plan with the help of your doctor or health care provider.

There are various tests performed to measure your lung functions and the severity of your asthma:

• Spirometry: It estimates the narrowing of one’s bronchial tubes by checking the volume of air, and how fast s/he exhales after taking a deep breath.
• Peak Flow: The Peak Flow meter is used to measure your breathing flow. If your peak flow meter readings are lower than the normal rate, it signifies the deteriorating condition of your lungs and your worsening asthmatic condition. Your doctor will guide you on how to deal with your low peak flow readings.

When it comes to diagnosing the disease, there below mentioned tests can be used:

• Nitric Oxide Test: In asthmatic patients where they have an inflamed/swollen respiratory tract, they might have higher than normal nitric oxide levels. This test can measure the amount of nitric oxide gas in a patient. However, this is not a widely practiced method.

• Methacholine Challenge: It is also known to be an asthma trigger and if it causes any mild constriction in your respiratory tract, you most likely have asthma. This test is performed if your initial function test report is normal.

• Allergy Tasting; For this test, a skin/blood test is performed to identify any allergy to dust, pets, mold and pollen. In case there are any allergy triggers identified in your case, you may be recommended to go for allergen immunotherapy.

• Imaging Tests: An X-ray image of your chest and a high-resolution CT (computerized tomography) scan of your nose cavities and lungs can be used to identify structural abnormalities/diseases that be the cause of or aggravate your breathing problems.

• Sputum Eosinophils: Eosinophils are a type of white blood cells that are present in the saliva & the mucus you discharge, if you are suffering from asthma. These white blood cells can be found when the symptoms develop, and are visible when mixed with a rose-colored dye (also known as eosin).

Patients who are suffering from asthma are well aware of how expensive the treatment for this disease can be. Investing in a health insurance will help them significantly by reducing their out-of-pocket expenses.

Here are few of the important points you need to consider while looking for such health insurance plans:

• You should look into the cover size of the plan as the inflation rate is rising steadily and so is the medical cost associated with your asthma care. You won’t want to burn a hole into your pocket while paying your medical bills. Buying a health insurance plan will keep your covered against any such an eventuality.

• Although asthma has certain standardized procedures that must be followed, your medical coverage might have different conditions associated with it. So, it’s always better to consult your doctor before buying an insurance plan for your asthma. It’s always a wise decision to understand these conditions and interpretations clearly before signing the final deal.

• Most of the times, asthma insurance plans are renewed on a yearly basis. Few insurance plans also come with lifelong renewability, depending upon the insurance provider.

• You should also look into the plan and check its exclusions. This is will ensure that you can make an informed decision and won’t end up paying for procedures you thought were covered under the health plan.

• Your age plays an important role in calculating the premium of the insurance plan. Simply said, the premium amount you need to pay is going to increase with your age. Hence, the sooner you buy the plan, the better it will be for your finances.
• You should also pay attention to the ratio of claims approved by the insurance company you are planning to buy your plan from. Therefore, make sure to ask the insurer to provide you with its CSR (claim settlement ratio) over the years, enabling you to fairly estimate your chances of a successful claim settlement.

Here are few of the important reasons why you should buy a health plan if you are an asthmatic patient:

• The changing lifestyle and climatic conditions are only a few of the major factors instigating asthmatic conditions. Lack of healthy habits and regular exercise also hampers one’s health.

• Asthmatic attacks can also be severe and may also require extensive hospitalization. Hence, they also result in a severe financial liability that can eat into all your savings, unless you have invested in a health insurance plan.

• Rising treatment expenses is something we are all constantly worried about. To recover from your asthmatic attacks, you will need to take leaves from work, which will also hamper your professional performance. In such scenarios, it will become further difficult to meet your household expenses if there is no health cover to rely on.

Conclusion:

Our advice is to make the smart decision to invest in a health insurance plan to cover your asthma attack expenses. Additionally, make sure to provide your provider with your complete medical history, because insurance companies are often concerned if you are taking proper precautions to keep your ailment and attacks under control. So make sure you take all the proper precautions and stay healthy.

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Let me tell you a story.

This is the story of Shekhar. As a part of his routine annual health checkup, Shekhar visited his doctor. However, when the test reports came out, he was quite surprised to know that his blood pressure was found to be higher than normal.

In other words, Shekhar was diagnosed with hypertension. He was worried about the treatment and the subsequent expenses which led him to investigate further about hypertension and which insurance plans he could opt for so as to avoid burning a large hole in his pocket.

Shekhar is one of the few smart and practical patients of Hypertension. Studies have shown that more than 320 lakh people in India are afflicted with hypertension, and it is well known that hypertension can lead to many serious health conditions such as heart disease, stroke, etc.

Although you can’t control contracting the disease, you can always look into the factors responsible for causing it and do your best to avoid them.

In this article we will not only focus on why buying a health insurance plan is necessary for Hypertension patients, but will also go through some basic information about hypertension so we can understand this disease a little better.

Some Important Facts about Hypertension:

• The normal blood pressure of a human being is 120 over 80 mm of mercury (mmHg); however, in case of hypertension your blood pressure will be higher than 130 over 80 mmHg.

• Hypertension can arise due to several reasons and stress tops the list. While, stress can stem from events in your personal and professional life, sometimes it can arise from underlying medical conditions as well e.g. kidney disease.

• Hypertension, when not managed well or taken care of, can lead to a stroke, heart attack and other problems.

Managing your Lifestyle is one of the Best Ways to Address High BP:

• Your weight is one of the most crucial factors, when it comes to managing your hypertension. If you are overweight, you need to work on losing weight. If you are the normal weight, according to your height, try to avoid gaining weight. In case you are overweight, losing even 5 kilos can help you manage the disease. You can always consult your doctor to get an idea of your ideal weight.

• Eating healthy foods will also keep your blood pressure in check. Include plenty of vegetables and fruits in your diet, especially those that are rich in potassium. Focus on lowering your intake of excessive calories, fat and sugar.

• It’s a well-known fact that the higher your sodium intake is, the higher your blood pressure is going to be. Cutting back on your total consumption of salt will significantly lower your risk of high blood pressure.

• Get moving and make physical activities a part of your daily routine. The more you exercise, the easier it will be to control your blood pressure. Even a moderate exercise routine of 30 minutes 3 times in a week will prove to be beneficial.

• Always make sure to monitor your blood pressure on a regular basis. As high blood pressure often occurs without any symptoms, it’s better to keep a check on your blood pressure to determine any peaks in your blood pressure.

Introducing these lifestyle changes in your daily routine can help you control your hypertension.

Different Types of Hypertension:

Hypertension that is not caused by any other medical condition or disease is called primary or essential hypertension. In case your hypertension has arisen due to another condition, it is known as secondary hypertension.

1. Primary Hypertension: In this form of hypertension, your blood plasma volume and the activity of the hormones responsible for regulating the blood volume and pressure is affected. Certain environmental factors like stress and lack of physical activity can also influence primary hypertension.
2. Secondary hypertension: It results from complications of other medical conditions which include diabetes, kidney disease, hyperthyroidism (an overactive thyroid gland), pregnancy, obesity, etc.

The Different Ways In Which Hypertension Can Affect Your Body:

1. Hypertension leads to arteriosclerosis wherein the walls of the blood vessels lose their elasticity and due to constant pressure eventually become weak and rupture. This situation can invariably be fatal.

2. Hypertension also increases the risk of brain hemorrhage, also known as stroke, tenfold. Even a slightly high BP can lead to stroke as high BP weakens the small vessels in your brain, eventually rupturing them. This can also lead to dementia in the patient.

3. The elevated blood pressure is also responsible for damaging the small blood vessels in your kidney and hence affects the blood supply to your kidney. It affects the normal functionalities of your kidney such as regulating your hormones, body fluids, the amount of salt in your body, etc. and can eventually result in kidney failure.

4. Even pregnant women suffer the side-effects of hypertension. For instance, hypertension in pregnancy can lead to a low birth weight and decreased growth of the baby.

Why buying a Health Plan for Hypertension Patient is Important?

• The inflation in medical costs is making it really hard for an average-salaried person to take care of medical expenses like doctors’ fees, expensive medicines, hospitalization charges, diagnostic tests, etc.

By investing in a health insurance plan, you will not only be reimbursed for the hospitalization charges, but it will also safeguard you against OPD or day-care costs.

• People are increasingly switching to private hospitals for getting quality medical treatment. A well-researched and bought health plan will help you focus more on getting the best medical care rather than worrying about expenses.

You need to relax as worrying about medical costs can deteriorate your health further. After all, you can’t afford to take more tension when you are already a patient of hypertension!

Furthermore, we will discuss the factors you need to consider while buying an insurance cover for your hypertension condition:

• Start Early: People always wonder about the right time to buy an insurance plan. Well, the wise decision is to invest in one as soon as possible. You shouldn’t wait for a tragedy to strike. Rather, invest on the right time because as they say, “A stitch in time saves nine”.
• Waiting Period: Like every pre-existing ailment, hypertension too has a waiting period of 2-4 years. If you invest in a health plan at the right time, there are chances that you will be able to cover your waiting period before the need for a major hospitalization occurs.
• Low Premiums: Starting on the right time will also ensure that you pay lower premiums.

Conclusion:

Inclusion of buying a health insurance policy in your wish list will definitely be fruitful, if you are suffering from hypertension. Moreover, buying plans has become a lot easier these days with easy access to the internet letting you compare dozens of health plans effortlessly before settling for the plan best-suited for you.

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