In such a time, the best gift you can give your mother on this Mother’s Day is a comprehensive health insurance policy that covers COVID-19 and has adequate coverage in case of hospitalization.

India is facing an intense second wave of COVID-19. People are losing their lives, and many are losing hope. In such a time, a lot of people especially the elderly require hospitalization, oxygen support and ventilation support in severe cases. This can dig a deep hole in the savings and sometimes even not be enough for the increased hospitalization charges.

In such a time, the best gift you can give your mother on this Mother’s Day is a comprehensive health insurance policy that covers COVID-19 and has adequate coverage in case of hospitalization. Along with this also check that your mother is following all safety protocols and is boosting her immunity well.

So, while buying a health insurance policy for your mother, here are all are the things that you should check for:

Lower Initial and Pre-existing Waiting Periods: Every insurance policy has two types of waiting periods: an initial waiting period, which is the time after you bought the policy taken for your policy to get activated and a pre-existing disease waiting period, which is the time period taken to cover hospitalization or treatment pertaining to any pre-existing diseases. Usually, the initial waiting period is 30 days for most policies. But nowadays some insurers offer policies with initial waiting periods as low as 7 to 15 days. This is helpful because the policy can start as soon as possible after it is bought. Also, you should look for a policy that can offer a lower waiting period for pre-existing and specific diseases. Insurers do offer a waiver or lower waiting periods with an additional premium. This will be helpful to cover your mother against any such treatments.

Individual Comprehensive Health Policy: Usually few insurers cover parents with family floater policy.
But for the elderly it is always advisable to take an individual health insurance policy. This will help allocate the entire sum insured for your mother in case of multiple hospitalization or treatments. Also, some policies have specific benefits like home-hospitalization or extended pre/post-hospitalization expense covered, only for the elderly. Taking such a policy would be more relevant and useful for your mother instead of making her a part of your family floater policy.

No age-based co-payment: A co-payment is basically a clause that states that a part of the claim has to be borne by the policy buyer and the rest will be taken care of by the insurer. Some insurers levy a co-payment for senior citizens in exchange for a lower premium, but it can leave you to pay a hefty amount during the claims despite having a health insurance policy. Hence it is always better to look for no age-based co-payment policies so that your health insurer can cover you for the entire claim in the event of hospitalization or treatment.

Specific benefits tailored for the elderly: While buying a policy for your mother, you should look for some specific benefits that can be really useful.
– OPD benefits, cover doctor visits, consultations, teleconsultations, and diagnostics.
– Sum Insured Refill, as the elderly might have chances to fall sick multiple times in one year and with this, the sum insured will not get exhausted.
– Home Care Treatment, to ensure that in case there are no beds available, or the patient is not in a condition to move treatment at home can be covered.
– Annual Health Check-up, so that your mother can go through a thorough health check-up every year.
– Critical Illness Cover, so that critical illnesses like breast cancer, ovary cancer or cervical cancer, to name a few, which are common in women can be covered.
Most importantly, before buying a policy also check the network of cashless hospitals and the ease of claims with the insurer, as in a pandemic time, both are of utmost importance. So, this Mother’s Day, let us ensure our mothers are healthy and financially protected against any medical emergency.