Why do you think mediclaim insurance gets such a mixed reaction thought its one of the best form of non-life insurance? Perhaps the reason lies with people like Smita, who works as a Sr. Manager HR with one of the pharma companies, she boils with anger as she recalls the horrendous experience she had with one of the insurance companies. Smita filed a claim for rs 54,000 following an intestinal surgery of her mother. And though she had presented all the documents, the insurance company settled on 50% of the amount, thanks to the fine prints that she forgot to read.

Do you know that consumer courts receive the largest number of complaints on medical insurance claims in financial services area? The complaints are largely on account of underpayment or even rejection of claim payments by the insurers. The poor customer who is already drained with the emotional trauma has to go through the tedious procedure of recovering the money back, which is more stressful. “I was a firm believer in mediclaim insurance and I made a point that the sum assured is increased every two year, but not any longer, after this experience, I’m actually planning to discontinue the policy”.

But according to Industry experts customers make some common mistakes while filing a claim. Let’s look at what you need to do to ensure a stress-free claim settlement.

When filing a claim under mediclaim insurance policy, the first basic step is to provide a preliminary notice of hospitalisation to the insurance company or the Third Party Administrator (TPA). This intimation has to reach the TPA within 7 days from the day of hospitalisation. The next is to ensure that all the final claim forms submitted are supported with relevant documents like hospital bills, cash memos, and medical pathological reports. However, if you claim for consultation receipt by the doctor, then you have to submit the prescription along with the claim form. Similarly for diagnosis, you have to submit the diagnostic report and medical reports such as X-rays and scans for an operation and the medical bills have to be numbered. You have to submit all relevant documents along with the claims form within 30 days from the date of discharge of the patient. You can take a mediclaim policy to financially aid you at ailing times. However it’s important for you to know what your policy covers and what you have to pay yourself.

Today hospitalisation and health care costs are going up the roof top and getting medical aid from the best of doctors has become a priority. In fact, you buy a mediclaim only to ensure that your loved ones and you are provided with all the facilities and medical expenses. In short, adequate paper work and the right timing will guarantee the customer a hassle free settlement.
So are there chances of 'claim rejection'? The answer is yes, in case of discrepancy in documents or in case of non compliance with the policy conditions the claim.
 
 
Indians have started loving leisure in recent times, no pun intended. Thanks to the booming economics, the festival of Diwali never looked better in terms of finance as well. But do all travel plans turn out to be as perfect as imagined? The answer can be no in many cases. Reasons for this are umpteen but some of them are due to the lack of being properly insured when traveling. This holds true especially when one is traveling to European countries. Cost of medical treatment is extremely high in these countries; don’t you dread being faced with a medical emergency in a foreign land with limited cash? This is certainly not an ideal vacation!

Travel insurance is all about securing ones trip. To define it simply, travel insurance refers to financial protection for you and your money. It covers personal accident, medical expenses, air ambulance, loss of effects, repatriation costs and all other expenses that may arise as a result of loss, damage, injury, delay or inconvenience occurring to the person who is travelling.

There are various types of travel insurance offered by providers. You must double check the insurance plan in terms of flexibility and coverage. Be sure to include coverage like trip interruption, trip cancellation, supplier default (also known as "Financial Default"), a trip delay benefit and at least $25,000 worth of air evacuation if there’s a medical emergency. It’s also advisable not to buy travel protection offered by a travel agency, airline or cruise line.

If you have a travel policy, you effectively transfer the headache of zeroing in on a hospital and paying the bills to a third party i.e. the insurance company. General insurers offer cashless service for hospitalisation, which means that you can avail of services abroad though you would have incurred the costs (i.e. premium) in rupees. If you happen to visit a doctor during your stay abroad for consultation, the amount will be reimbursed to you on the submission of the bill. Apart from medical risks, insurance companies also cover other emergencies such as accidents, loss of passport, delay or loss of baggage, missed flights, trip delay or cancellation, missed flights, financial emergencies, home insurance and even hijacking.

A thorough study of plans offered by various insurers and a comparison of features is the best way of identifying the policy suitable for you. Here are some tips to remember before signing that proposal form.

Read the entire policy document before buying: The policy exclusions can be found online, look for the document titled ‘Evidence of coverage’. This clause explain the type of coverage the client gets, some policies do not provide coverage for dangerous sports like scuba diving, bungee jumping, sky diving etc.

Keep all the receipts handy: Keep all the unused air tickets, transportation receipts, medical bills, official reports and other important receipts.

24/7 customer assistance: It is always better if your company has a customer care office. Make sure that you have the office number of the travel insurance company while traveling.

Last but not the least, before buying a travel insurance policy, survey the market, get all the possible quotes and then decide on the cheapest and best insurance policy that suits your needs as well as your budget. Bon Voyage!
 
 
Investment these days is more or less like walking the tight rope you never know when you’ll fall. In the recent past, Indian investors have tuned into the stock market and mutual fund arena to save for retirement and attain other financial goals. Mutual funds are best for investors who don’t have the time to deal with the stock markets. Mutual funds can offer an array of advantages like diversification and professional management. But investing blindly can be risky especially when you don’t know the product too well.

So what is a mutual fund? It’s nothing but a collection of stocks and bonds. The mutual fund company pools in money from investors and invest it in the market, which also comprises of short-term money market instruments, other securities and assets. These combined holdings are together known as a portfolio.

Mutual Funds are broadly classified into three categories viz. Equity Funds, Debt Funds and Balanced Funds.

Equity funds: equity funds invest a major chunk of their corpus in equities. However, the composition of the fund depends on the fund manager's outlook on various scripts. Equity funds are further classified into diversified equity funds, mid-cap funds, sector specific funds, tax saving funds.

Debt funds: debt funds invest a lot of money in the debt market, which includes government securities, private companies, banks and financial institutions etc. investing in debt instruments ensures a low risk and stability income to the investor as compared to equity funds. Debt funds are categorised as gilt fund, liquid funds, Monthly income plans (MIPs).

Balanced funds: These funds, as the name suggests, are a mix of both equity and debt funds. They invest in both equities and fixed income securities. The scheme comes with a pre-defined investment objective. These schemes aim to provide investors with the best of both the worlds. Equity part provides growth and the debt part provides stability in returns.

Each category of funds is backed by an investment philosophy, which is pre-defined in the objectives of the fund. The investor can align his own investment needs with the funds objective and invest accordingly. Experts believe that investors should maintain a mixed portfolio that comprises of equity and debt funds. For example, while equity funds that invest in fast-growing companies are known as growth funds, equity funds that invest only in companies of the same sector or region are known as specialty funds.
After some basics on mutual funds here's a basic guide an investor must follow in order to understand it’s potent to tune with their risk profile.

What's your risk profile? Does the stock market spook you then equity funds are not your types. If you are amongst those who like to see their wealth grow slowly then go for debt funds. Ask some basic questions before settling down for one. Your investment pattern reflects your risk-taking capacity.


Read the fine prints.
This is an important step before you commit your money to a fund. The offer document contains essential details pertaining to the fund, including the summary information (type of scheme, name of the Asset Management Company and price of units, among other things), investment objectives and investment procedure, financial information and risk factors.

Track your funds regularly
Once you invest your money make a point to review it regularly. If you feel that the fund is not performing to your expectation then it’s probably the time to call your financial advisor.

It pays to understand both the upsides and the downsides of mutual fund investing and how to choose products that match your goals and tolerance for risk.
 
 
With Sensex on its northward journey, it has gained points in not just hitting new highs but also attracting more investors. Investment in equity is just becoming irresistible and tempting.

The mutual industry has grown at a rapid pace thanks to the tax benefit element added to it. But nevertheless, insurance industry is not slowing down either especially when it has Unit Linked Insurance Plans (Ulips) to boast about.

Being a perfect combination of insurance and investment, ULIP products is finding more takers. Not only does the individual get insurance protection but he also gets an alluring chance to be a part of the booming equity market.

But Ulips also has many critics on its plate. So is this purchase worth it?

The answer to this is very dicey. If with a single product you are getting two major aspects of your investments taken care of then there’s nothing like it.

What it is?
Like mentioned earlier, Ulips is an insurance cum investment product where the premium that you pay is invested in the stock market and also insures you. Insurance companies give you a choice of funds to invest in ranging from high to low risk. So based on your risk profile, choose the fund that you want to invest in. A bit of research would come handy.

Why Ulip?
You ask why. The answer lies in the raging bull market. The market is refusing to go down and you need no better reason to invest in it. You can keep invested in the funds of your choice, and reap the profits that it offers. The market is climbing new highs that promise to give you good returns.

Don’t look at it from short-term perspective:
A long-term investment approach is what you need when buying a unit linked plan. Purchasing the product with the intention of exiting at a short stage will not fetch the kind of result that it holds. In the short-run the market can be very volatile and your returns can be disheartening.

Consult your insurance advisor:
An advisor has a better understanding of various plans. Ask as many questions to clear misconceptions or to gain better understanding of the products. You could even speak to your friends who have similar choices in buying insurance plans.
Make sure your agent gives you the kind of service you require.

Which one?
Since Ulips are the flavour of the season, you would find it in abundance with every insurance company. It is suitable for any individual provided you know what risks are involved. Also, only long-term approach can work out to give decent returns. It can be a good option over endowment policy, which gives comparatively lesser returns, of course taking into account the booming stock market.

If understood well and having worked the parameters correctly, Ulips can be good
 
 
One thing that will strike you when you look at a lot of insurance ads on TV is the emphasis they are putting on medical & health insurance. This is a well thought out strategy by the market players tapping into what is considered the next new goldmin in the India success story.

Did you know that the potential market for the health insurance is about Rs 30,000 crore but currently, it is just touching Rs 1,400 crore. And moneywise, the health cover stands at just 3% of the insurance sector. The health insurance sector has recorded a whopping 38% growth during 2006-07. However despite this boom, only 1.08% of the one billion Indians have medically secured their lives since 1986 when the health insurance was first introduced in the country.

Shortage of hospitals and insurance providers, poverty, lack of coordination between medicentres and insurance firms and people’s belief in destiny are some of the reasons for the poor response. These are the findings of a recent study by National Insurance Academy (NIA). K C Mishra, NIA director and a member of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority.

The data for the study was collected from 16 insurance companies providing medical cover. Uptil now the medical insurance schemes have till now been restricted to the five metropolitan cities-Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore and Chennai.
In India, there are four public companies (General Insurance, Oriental Insurance, United Insurance and National Insurance companies) and 12 private companies (including ICICI, Cholamandalam and Bajaj Allianz) operating in this burgeoning sector. There are also two stand-alone companies-Star Health-check and Allied Insurance-which only deal with medical insurance.

The research indicated that there were restrictive players and not enough hospitals to enable people to take the benefit of the health insurance. It comes as no surprise that very few people can afford to buy insurance policies due to poverty. Another drawback is that very few insurance firms have their branches in semi-urban and rural areas. Majority of the semi-urban and rural population hence remain neglected.
Besides, people tend to leave their health to their destiny instead of securing insurance cover. Experts like Mr. Mishra believe that “Lack of coordination between the government and companies and also between hospitals and medical insurance firms plays a key role behind the poor coverage. If this coordination is achieved, the entire scenario will change’’. Mr. Mishra also notes that another key point was that the insurance companies did not cover fixed expenditure incurred by people with very little encouragement from the companies in this regard.
 
 
With more ostentatious weddings being the norm of the day the risks of anything going wrong is huge. But the risk attached to getting married is the last thing on the mind of Hiren, who ties the knot on December 7. The young executive just insured his wedding for Rs 5 lakhs, and bought peace.

This December, when Indians shell out close to Rs 50,000 crore over couples taking the vow, many of the glitzy wedding ceremonies would be covered against fire and accidents to the bridegroom or bride, cancellation of the wedding and disputes between the bride and the groom or their families.

According to Mr. Kartik Jain, marketing head of ICICI Lombard the marriage insurance market at Rs 30 crore is growing 50% year-on-year. Consumer awareness is on the rise and the demand for the product would not be restricted to any period. Sources in Oriental Insurance Company also mention that they are planning to come out with a marketing strategy for this segment as well.

Lately, the high and mighty of the society have been spending mega bucks on weddings. People do take care to make this once-in-a lifetime event a memorable one. In case of any postponement or cancellations, there is a certain risk of significant monetary loss. The wedding insurance package can compensate the monetary loss. Bajaj Allianz offers to insure anything between Rs 20 lakhs and Rs 70 lakhs the premium on the amount would range between Rs 3,770 and Rs 14,276. Though there is no minimum and maximum limits for the insurance, Mumbai-based clients go for Rs 40 lakh and above basket, it is learnt.

According to industry sources the recent wedding of actors Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai was also insured by a huge amount. Many other weddings of Bollywood personalities were also insured. Experts in the know mention that this segment is growing at the rate of 50% a year. They points to the fact that most wedding counsellors these days advice their celebrity clients to go for insurance, and over 60% of their clients agree.

And the middle class, too, is realising the benefits. Says RK, a Delhi -based executive who has insured his daughter’s marriage, “My family had a bad experience in a marriage function where there was a fire at a marriage pandal and all the valuables of family members & guests alongwith the elaborate arrangements got destroyed leaving us with a huge bill. I do not want to go through that, and don’t mind paying a premium.”

* Names have been changed on request
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