Kamini is a thought leader and expert when it comes to Marketing for Consumer Goods companies. Four months ago, she joined her current marketing consultancy after stints with consumer majors spanning over two decades.

Kamini has had a mild Asthma since childhood but never had to worry about her medical bills, insurance, or health facilities or type of accommodation her entire work life. All the companies she worked for over the years had excellent group insurance coverage, generous medical allowances with no caveats on which hospital to choose and what room type to stay, what tests were allowed or the type of hospital facilities.

Kamini took to running about a decade and a half ago, initially to fight Asthma and later because she fell in love with it, and hasn’t had an Asthma attack over the last 10 years. Though she still carries an inhaler and uses it once in a while, she has enjoyed a period of complete well being all these years. She is a regular at half marathons over the last 5 years, seizing every pportunity to run in the region whenever her busy schedule and family commitments permitted.

Two years ago, she was advised to stop running and choose less impact exercise regime as the wear and tear caused by her years of running were taking a heavy toll on her knees. Though she modified her work outs, she just couldn’t give up running totally.

Last May, she underwent a knee surgery and after a two month break, she was able to hit the road and was overjoyed at how new and wonderful the knees felt.

Two months ago, after she moved companies to join the current consulting major, she developed minor complications and had to get her knees re-examined. The first minor shock came when the insurance company declined her reimbursement citing pre-existing condition and that the coverage kicks in only after 12 months of continued employment.

Three weeks ago, she was advised by her knee surgeon to undergo a minor surgery to correct a small bone correction to improve the knee movement as a residual outcome of prior operation. The estimated cost, including hospitalization and surgery has been put at Rs. 2,50,000.

Kamini has two choices, get it operated now and pay the amount from her pocket (the company medical benefits would cover roughly 10% of the cost) or wait another eight months and then use the company insurance. It’s not a big amount, considering she is in the top tier salary bracket but what really got her worried was when she went shopping for a personal insurance coverage, no insurance company was willing to cover or quote and cited this is standard industry procedure.

Kamini anyway went ahead and bought personal health coverage with the exclusion of her knee with a promise to get the exclusion reexamined after a year of healthy living and was also able to negotiate on her Asthma coverage with a slight increase in premium considering she has been healthy all these years with no major problems. She has also modified her work outs to include cross training and cycling and now runs only once a week.

Kamini’s case isn’t unique, it’s what most of us think is an outlier, something that doesn’t affect us until someone close to us gets hit similarly when it suddenly takes center stage.

Group health insurance plans in general are company specific and cannot be ported over when we move employers. A pre-existing condition that one could have enjoyed coverage from a particular insurer may no longer be covered for another 12 months when one moves employers (or more or never depending upon the group health insurance plan) even if the insurer across the two companies is the same.

In addition, even when ported over, it may no longer come at the same premium or with same level of coverage.

Most people in their healthy and early years laugh off the idea of personal health insurance when this is precisely the best time when one should go for a health plan.

Not only it is much much cheaper for a person in his twenties vs. someone 20 years older (a quick check for a healthy male, in the age group of 20-25yrs vs. one in the age group of 40-45yrs, show a premium differential of approx 40% (approx Rs 4,000)* for a total yearly coverage of approx Rs 10lacs), a healthy body also would ensure no specific exclusions like Kamini’s.

Some of the insurers also provide coverage for pre-existing illness after you have been a policy holder for a few years. Spiralling medical bills can drain savings and in worse situations could wreak havoc on your assets and retirement planning. A personal health plan would ensure you would never have periods where you wouldn’t be fully covered when you move companies or decide to take a break or start something of your own, or god forbid, made redundant. These are the exact times when the last thing you would want would to be worrying about are money and your health.

So run a quick online check, avoid rude shocks of hefty medical bills or compromising on the medical facilities, or type of room or tests because you can’t afford it. Talk to an insurance expert who can help assess your need and advise you what plan works best taking your lifestyle, savings and income into account. It’s a small price to pay for complete peace of mind.

Do you believe that you can actually purchase your health insurance plan right now even with a limited budget?

You don’t need to call and pay insurance agents for the services that they provide. You can now get the same service as these agents give you such as introducing different health policies that you can choose from. All you need is to go through the internet and be your own insurance agent.

The internet hosts a lot of sites for insurance providers to advertise and offer their best deals to people who want to protect their assets. Insurance coverage plans for your health needs are available at various types of parameters and from a wide range of reputable companies.

Just type in the keyword from your chosen search site and various types of health insurance companies will instantly appear on your screen. You can then go over the results and list down all of the applicable insurance plans for your health needs. You can choose from complete medical coverage or specific coverage if you want to get insurance for specific procedures.

A comparison website that lists countless numbers of heath companies is also one of the best methods to apply when searching for health policies. After providing your personal details, a number of health plans will be returned from your search and you can then pick which one best applies for your current medical condition.

When choosing insurance companies online always research on the background, customer review and reputation of these providers. This will ensure that your money is not lost to malicious and mischievous people from the internet.

Do not disregard the advice of friends, family or co workers with regards to health insurance companies. Their opinions are valuable as well. Other options include going over health insurance industries to gather information first hand. You can then compare all data you have gathered from the internet, acquaintances and insurance groups thus ensuring that you get the best deal available.

Purchase your personalized health insurance plan right away. Go to your internet and use a comparison website or search for the most affordable plan from a reputed company and get health coverage instantly. Or, you could wait for some time and do a comprehensive search by asking friends, insurance agencies, yellow pages or even insurance brokers.

Since every family is unique and has its own different set of requirements, coverage plans should be different too. While a large family with a great average fitness may be able to cope with medical expenses with a low-cost policy, a small unit with ailing parents may not be able to do so. As the news spreads of premium rates climbing for family health insurance policies across the globe (with VHI in Ireland initiating the trend with a hike of over €200), uninsured or under-insured people scramble to look for the ideal insurance quote.

But to find that ideal deal, you need to be aware of the basics first. Such health insurance quotes usually come in two kinds of packages, as has been the norm among the prominent cover providers (both online as well as in the real-world):

1.Fees-against-services – This kind of a plan provides for partial reimbursement of medical bills even if they are from external medical professionals.
2.Managed care – This can cover expenses incurred during preventive care sessions and other allied trips to the doctor. However, in such a plan, you can only consult the medical professionals chosen by the coverage providers’ network. If you choose to visit an external doctor, the bills are for you to pay!

However, with the advent of hundreds of coverage firms within a short span of time, competition has forced the basic plans to be customized from different angles and with different conditions attached. For an instance, a family health coverage quote may allow visits to an external doctor on a co-payment agreement. Another quote may ask for higher premiums but allow preventive care and similar treatments to be covered for.

A lot of online sites offer free health insurance quotes and a free comparison among the main players in the health coverage industry today. You can easily utilize these to monitor the current trends in the industry and etch out a coverage plan for yourself.

Sites like ‘Health Insurance Coverage’ can be used to compare and settle for a great family health insurance quote without having to commute to every office or speak to every agent of available firms.