Should you buy healthcare insurance online or offline?

There’s an English proverb that says, “Good health is above wealth” and it has been proved to be true time and again, more so in the last couple of years. Sure, you eat healthy food and exercise as much as your routine allows but you never know when a rough health patch is going to hit you. Opting for a healthcare policy that covers each member of your family is the only way to ensure the best healthcare facility in times of distress.

Buying a healthcare policy through an Agent:

The rising medical costs make healthcare policy a necessity. But those don’t come cheap. There are different channels to buy a healthcare policy viz a viz banks, IMFs (Insurance Marketing Firms), POS (Point of Salesperson otherwise known as an Agent), Web aggregators, etc.

Going through a policy advisor/agent is the time-tested method. An agent will be able to hand-hold you right from choosing the right policy to filing the claim papers during hospitalization. He’s wan arbitrator between you and the insurance company and will deal with all the technicalities making the process hassle-free for you. Involving an agent is also beneficial in situations where online platforms is not suitable. Like in case of senior citizens who are yet to comprehend the online payment system. But it has its drawbacks too. Dependability on the agent, revolving your schedule to match along with his, getting pushed into a policy because of the agent’s susceptibility towards a particular company/policy, etc. may force you into buying a healthcare policy that was ultimately not the best for one for you.

Buying a healthcare policy online:

For others, the best bet is to find an online healthcare policy that gives you maximum coverage at the lowest rates. Portals like InsuranceDekho (www.insurancedekho.com), online insurance brokers that give a detailed comparison of the healthcare policy and its cost, have made it very easy for anyone to buy a healthcare policy along with affordability. The advantages of buying a healthcare policy online are numerous. Comparability, least premium, ease of transaction, more policy options, maximum coverage, etc are just a few that can be counted on the fingertips. An article published by The Economic times claimed that online health insurance sale was up by 30% during the coronavirus pandemic. Another one of the major benefits of buying an online policy is that it gives instant investment proof which makes your coverage active immediately*. But what good are all of these if you do not know how to get it serviced?

The way around:

Majority of the time the insured doesn’t know his policy intricacies well enough and therefore cannot get the best value for his money. They are still used to the old school of thought where an agent explains the policy and its terms and conditions in detail. With online purchasing, this factor is eliminated leaving a lot of people blind about the benefits of their policy.

But this can also be eradicated easily. Just like InsuranceDekho, there are companies like BIMAGARAGE and apps like HOBNOB that work as a translator for you and your policy. These companies tackle the intricacies of your policy and help you to get the best value for your money. From informing you about the documentation to raising a claim in case of hospitalization; They even help you in settling a case where a claim was raised by you and got rejected (by deciphering the why’s and how’s of it). A win-win situation where you can buy the best policy with the lowest premium and getting it serviced without any hassle.

*Depends on the terms and conditions of the policy.