Urban lifestyle and the stress springing from it have made us all a bit too lethargic. Today, we are prone to illnesses more than ever. Again, the rising cost of living strains our monthly budget. Hence, a sudden illness can be financially challenging, except when you have a good health insurance policy under your name. 

A health insurance policy is a sure shot way to cope with extravagant medical costs. You pay a fixed small premium of health insurance on a timely basis and boom – your health costs are sorted for life. Alongside this, you earn additional benefits depending upon your policy as years go by. Thus, health insurance plans can get you through your worst possible time. 

Of course, needs and priorities can change with time. Like, in your 30s, you look for a plan that offers comprehensive benefits with maximum coverage. Features like cashless hospitalization, maternity coverage, etc. are generally crucial in this phase of life. Such benefits are mostly included in a typical family health insurance plan.

Following are the 5 features every health insurance plan must have:

• The plan must be family-oriented. It should take into account the needs of working individuals with nuclear families. It should cover hospital accommodation costs without any limit. You must have access to the refill benefit in case the insured base amount gets depleted. You should be provided with an equivalent of the insured amount claimable against any illness. 
• Apart from offering health insurance, the plans should also give supplementary medical benefits against terminal diseases. Certain reputed health insurance plans provide provisions for AYUSH treatments. You can avail coverage for Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy under AYUSH. You can also demand a second opinion in case of a critical illness. The critical illnesses covered differ depending upon the plan. ManipalCigna health insurance offers health insurance plans that cover treatments for AYUSH as well as many critical illnesses. 
• In a health insurance plan, you must be getting a benefit of free medical check-ups every year. Some plans even include daily cash benefit features. Under this, you can claim a fixed daily cash benefit for each continuous and complete 24 hours of hospitalization and take care of your out of pocket expenses. Many health insurance plans even cover organ transplant including the expenses incurred while transferring a patient from one hospital to another.
• Best health insurance companies do not keep the upper age limit on their plan. Again, the unlimited automatic recharge feature offers to recharge the insured sum in case of exhaustion automatically. Routine visits to the hospital and frequent consultation fees are also covered under the best health insurance plans. It is around 1% of the total amount insured.
• A perfect health insurance plan also gives you access to special reproductive treatments. Also, many plans cover a new-born baby along with the mother. The plans also offer a grace period in case the insured has forgotten to pay the premium. However, all these conditions depend upon the policy you are buying. 

Thus, you should opt for a health insurance plan that covers your family’s complete healthcare needs. It is always better to prepare beforehand for the worst possibilities. This way, when the time comes, you can be firm. Health insurance plans thus assist us in medically and support us economically. Therefore, it is wise to take well thought out measures by selecting a health insurance plan with the best features for the well-being of you and your family.