Pay the hospital even when you have no cash

Cashless hospitalisation is a boon for the times you or a loved one is admitted to hospital and cash reserves are low.

This situation is every person’s ultimate nightmare: you receive a phone call when you are at work, informing you that a family member has met with an accident. Your loved one requires immediate hospitalisation and surgery. You rush to the nearest ATM to retrieve a large wad of cash. But the nightmare is compounded when you realise that your card is not working. The bank is closed for the day and there is no way to get cash immediately.

While most people would rush around borrowing money from friends, those with cashless hospitalisation would be calm in the same situation. This is because cashless hospitalisation does not require the patient or policy holder to pay any money upfront – the expenses are taken up by Third Party Administrators (TPAs) in the hospital directly with the insurance companies. The insurance provider settles the hospital and treatment bills with the hospital.

Cashless hospitalisation: a boon in medical care

When a person is short of money for any reason, cashless hospitalisation comes to the rescue. It does not require the person to pay upfront for medical care, and treatment can start at once. The daily expenses are monitored by the hospital and submitted for reimbursement directly to the insurance provider. Thus, the patient can focus only on the treatment instead of grappling with insurance issues.

However, care must be taken to get admitted to a network hospital only. The medical insurance policy document lists the hospitals that have tie-ups with the insurance provider. You cannot get cashless hospitalisation benefits from any hospital not in the insurance provider’s network.

Also, cashless hospitalisation does not mean that the patient will not pay for anything. In most cases, it only covers hospitalisation charges and not such expenses as ambulance charges. These can be covered by the mediclaim that the patient has.

Hospital cash insurance: a great addition to the insurance portfolio

Apart from taking a cashless hospitalisation policy, another product one needs to include in the insurance portfolio is the hospital cash insurance. This is a beneficial insurance that yields daily cash when a loved one is hospitalised.

While health insurance takes care of hospitalisation expenses, it is the daily expenses that take away a large chunk of money in the long run. Daily travel to and from the hospital translates into cash needed for public transport or fuel expenses for private cars. Additionally, you have to purchase special food and medicines (as prescribed by the treatment facility). All of these expenses accrue into a sizeable amount of money.