Renewing your health insurance is just as important as buying a new policy. The due diligence that you do when you buy a new policy is required even at the time of renewal. However, the things that you would need to check are slightly different. Just before you renew your insurance policy, there are certain things to check out.

The following are the five key things you need to check before you make the payment to renew your health insurance policy.

1) Assess your health situation

Since it would have been a year after you took the policy, it is now time to re-assess your health situation. You are older by a year and you need to review how healthy you are. In case you feel that, you are at a higher risk of falling ill then you may need to review the coverage. There are two aspects here.

One is you need to review if you need to increase the sum insured. The second is that if you have any health condition, you need to inform the insurer. This is very important as not updating the insurer on any health changes can create problems when you make a claim.

2) Confirm the type of policy

Renewal time is when you can take a look again at the policy. Apart from the coverage, you can look at other options too. Maybe you have decided that you don’t need an individual plan but want a family floater. This is the time to take a decision and you can change the policy if you want to do so.

3) Consider portability

Portability is a great option that the IRDAI has allowed. You can change your policy from one insurer to another. If you are not satisfied with your present insurer, you are free to change the insurer. For example, if your insurer does not offer cashless health insurance, you can change to an insurer who does.

4) Keep Grace Period in mind

Your policy expires one year after the date of issue. You do have a grace period of 15 or 30 days. This is the last chance in case you forget to renew before the due date. If you don’t renew in the grace period, your policy lapses and restoring it is a complicated procedure.

5) Look for additional features

You can look for additional features at the time of renewal. For example, you may want to add a maternity benefit plan if you are planning a family. Decide if the features the policy offers meets your requirements and get additional features that you need.

You can refer to this article as a checklist when you renew your health. Reviewing all the points listed in this article would ensure you are getting the best policy. Now that you are ready, go ahead and renew your policy!

Edward Bertrand