I hope you have bought the heath insurance cover for yourself and your family. If you are still waiting to buy one, then please look around. Your savings are the first to suffer in the absence of good health coverage. Also, due to the pandemic premiums have been increasing recently.
The procedure of purchasing medical insurance is really simple. You go through the features of the very best policies, consult friends and purchase them offline or online. After that the policy files reaches your home within a few days of premium payment. You feel relived at last. However, your health insurance has to undergo the ‘claim’ test, before you can say that it was worth the money spent.
The test emerges when you have to process your claim. Your insurance passes the test with flying colors, if the claim process has been smooth and you were able to utilize the listed features. During the claim process you are usually in a rush and juggling multiple things. At the back of your mind, you understand you have medical insurance; there are many things to achieve in a brief time frame to make that insurance coverage useful for you. You need to search an ideal healthcare facility and get in touch with the insurance coverage company/TPA. The worst possible result is if you are hospitalized and your family does not have a clue on getting the cashless cover processed.
You can be prepared for the possibilities better, if you take necessary steps beforehand. You might believe it to be a wild-goose chase at present, however in the time of a crisis, you will be glad you took these actions. Let’s go through a list of things you can do after taking health insurance coverage to completely prepare yourself for a crisis situation.
Below is a list of steps you should be taking to prepare for eventualities during a health emergency:
1. Check out neighboring health care centers
There is no time as emergency can strike anytime. Your top priority is to shortlist 2-3 hospitals before any health emergency arises. Even if it’s an organized hospitalization, your time for research study is restricted and there may be numerous surprises, which crop up at the last minute. These may include availability of a specialist, payment terms, availability of beds etc.
The finest time to research and study healthcare facilities is to visit when you are healthy. You have all the time in the world during this period. You can check out all the customer experiences on the web. Go to the health care facility, make inquires associated with centers and charges. Thereafter compare healthcare facilities with each other, and lastly write down healthcare facility names, which have been shortlisted. Write them down in a diary and also inform family members.
This will take you couple of hours or days. If the above is taken care of beforehand, you will not worry to much during an emergency situation. You will be able to completely concentrate on the circumstance without needing to fret about the logistics. Click on this link to know more about the cashless insurance claim process.
2. Keep scanned health cards in email/mobile phone and original in the wallet
You can scan the health card quickly from a mobile app. You can also open your e-mail where you have actually received the e-version of health cards and save it . It is most likely that you will also receive the laminated hard copies of health cards via courier/post.
If you currently have the e-version of health cards in your e-mail, put them in your mobile in images form (so you do not need to browse your e-mails at the time emergency).You can likewise keep a scanned copy of medical prescriptions and discharge summary on your cloud/physical data storage device. Thus you will be able access them from anywhere, if required.
3. Categorize and enable speed dial for emergency contacts
In times of emergency situation, every minute counts. Why rely on Google search in the last minute. You will need to save numbers of relatives and shortlisted healthcare facilities (consisting of alternate numbers) to your contacts list. Also, assign speed dial numbers to them, which will allow the call to be made quickly during an emergency.
Include these numbers to the list of contacts in your family members phones also. It would be great if you also take a printout and display these numbers at a designated location in your home. Keep your family members informed about these steps.
4. Keep an emergency folder with all medical records
In case of an emergency, it is very difficult for relatives to gather all records within 5 minutes before rushing to the hospital with you. You probably are already admitted and don’t have all records to share with the doctors. Hence, it makes sense to prepare early and keep the emergency medical folder handy. You can keep health insurance cards, medical records, medical claim copies, emergency contact numbers, medical test results, in the same. Don’t forget to keep the folder visible and inform your relatives about the same early on.
The above steps, will provide peace of mind for you and your relatives. The hospitalization will be without any issues and once will not have waste time searching for medical records. This is critical as during emergencies, every second is important and can make a difference to recoveries. Hence, without and further delay, purchase your health insurance at the earliest, if you are still planning. Those who have already purchased should go ahead with the above steps.
Do let me know, if you like the article in the comments below. It will motivate me further.
