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.
