HRISHIKESH KUMAR SINGH
A. If this is the first health insurance cover you are going to buy, the best option is a basic hospitalisation policy for a Sum Insured (SI) of at least Rs 3 to Rs 5 lakh.
You can buy this from any General insurance company or Health insurance company that you are comfortable with and through an agent with whom you have a good working relationship and who gives you good service.
The four public sector General insurance companies, namely The New India Assurance Company Limited, United India Insurance Company Limited, The Oriental Insurance Company Limited and National Insurance Company Limited have a hospitalisation policy with the common brand name Mediclaim.
Other companies have various brand-names for the equivalent policy, like Easy Health by Apollo Munich Health Insurance Company Limited, ICICI Lombard Complete Health Insurance by ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Limited, SBI General Health Insurance Plan by SBI General Insurance Company Limited, Individual Health Guard by Bajaj Alliance General Insurance Company Limited and MediPrime by Tata AIG General Insurance Company Limited.
Since you are 39 years old, there will be few formalities like medical tests before you are issued a policy now and your premium will be relatively lower.
( K. Nitya Kalyani is a business journalist specialising in insurance and corporate history)
