Mediclaim is one of the most important insurance schemes a person can take. Mediclaim involves the payment of a premium that provides an insurance policy for medical treatment; when a person needs to undergo a medical treatment involving a certain sum of money and one which requires hospitalization, the person can get a refund of the money spent. However, there are certain steps and precautions that one needs to take in order to make sure that the money can be reclaimed without objection from the insurance company. In addition, to make sure that the mediclaim is effective, there are certain modifications of the policy that one needs to do. Here are some of these:
1. Stay in the hospital: For most mediclaim policies, the stay in the hospital should not be less than 24 hours for the treatment to be covered by the mediclaim policy
2. Pre-existing diseases: Make sure that you read the fine print of the insurance policy clearly. In most cases, pre-existing diseases are not covered, and are a major reason for the rejection of claims
3. Family cover: You should make sure that your entire family is covered under mediclaim. This allows a combination of individual coverages, and makes sure that higher expenses are covered
4. Start Early: You should start mediclaim as early as possible, and treat the amount of premium as a necessary expense rather than as something that you can decide to do or not to do. In addition, premium is much lower when you are younger
5. Stick to the same insurance company unless necessary: When you stay with the same insurance company and without any claims, you are entitled to a no-claim bonus. So unless you get some good reasons, do not go in for a change
6. Cashless policies: A cashless policy allows the passing off of medical expenses directly to the insurance company, without having to pay the amount of money required to the hospital. This is very important when the amount required is high
7. Getting the claim: Submit documents in time. Most insurance companies have an outer limit of 30 days within which the claim needs to be filed. Outside of this time, it is on a case by case basis
8. Check all the riders and add-ons. Some of them may be more useful to you, and some may be covered in another policy that you have. Make sure that you have gone through the policy carefully
9. Make sure that all the paperwork is submitted: If you have not submitted the required bill or prescription in original, the company may reject the paperwork. Make sure that your submission is thorough and after checking it again.