Health insurance covers are not just a way of protecting you and your family against financial burdens, but it also provides benefits that help you feel stress-free. The healthcare infrastructure in India is continuously evolving, and with newer technology and better facilities, the price of healthcare facilities is also increasing every day. Hospitalization expenses are at the peak due to the huge infrastructure and state-of-the-art amenities available to patients.

Today, people opt for a wide range of health insurance plans available, such as Individual Health Insurance Plans, Family Floater Health Insurance Plans, Group Health Insurance Plans, Critical Illness Health Insurance Plan, and many more. These plans offer cover for in-hospitalization expenses, post-and-pre hospitalization expenses, cashless transaction benefits, free medical checkup benefits, and much more. To know more about these plans and their benefits, you can visit Bajaj Finserv’s website.

While there are so many plans available to cover the needs of individuals and their families, several people opt for more than one health insurance plan. These plans are procured from the same or even different insurance providers based on the preferences of the policyholders. But people are often confused if they can claim for multiple health insurance covers at the same time. This is a genuine need, as sometimes your cover may be exhausted, and you may be forced to pay the balance amount from your pocket. But with multiple health insurance covers, you do not have to worry about the same.

How to avail multiple health insurance covers

There are two types of claim processes that all insurers follow: the claim reimbursement process and the cashless claim process. Today, most health insurance providers offer cashless claim benefits, but you may need to go for the claim reimbursement process in some instances. Having a cashless claim benefit is that your insurance pays upfront for your medical expenses at the hospital without the need for you first to pay and then get reimbursed later. It saves you from a lot of hassle. Now let us understand how you can claim multiple covers in both the claim settlement processes-

1. Gauge the total sum that will be incurred in the treatment, hospitalization, and other expenses. Now, if the sum exceeds the sum insured in your policy, you can opt to use another cover. For instance, you have two health insurance covers. Plan 1 (more preferred insurer) offers Rs. 2,00,000 sum insured, but your hospital expense is over Rs. 2,00,000, in such a case, you can also raise a claim against plan 2.

2. Now that you know that your expenses exceed the sum insured amount of your health insurance plan, you can proceed with applying for claims from both the covers, but this will have to be done one-by-one.

3. Firstly, get the claim settled for Plan 1 by submitting the original bills and documents to the insurer and filling in the claim settlement form. Clearly state the amount that you want a reimbursement for.

4. Once the claim from Plan 1 is settled, procure the claim settlements summary from the insurer.

5. Post this get all the bills and documents photocopies and attested by the hospital again.

6. Now, you can file a claim settled under your Plan 2 and get it reimbursed.

You must know that a GST of 18% is applicable on all financial services as of July 2017. It is always good to have comprehensive insurance covers, the benefit being that you only have to pay very minimal premiums for high sum insured, which can prove very beneficial in the longer run.