Along with restful days, old age brings along financial worries as well. While lifestyle expenses tend to minimise for elders, medical and healthcare expenditures need the utmost attention. From medications and pre-existing ailments to routine health check-ups and emergency hospitalisation— healthcare expenses go uncontrollable as elders cross 60 years of age. The good news is that old age-related medical expenses can be managed with ease if elders plan wisely.
In this article, grab some tips to save more and worry less about old-age contingencies while keeping healthcare as the priority.
Types of Rising Medical Expenses for Senior Citizens
Below is the list of unavoidable senior citizen medical expenses that are rising with every passing day:
Routine Health Check-ups
In the face of unprecedented illnesses and infections, we ought to protect the most vulnerable members– children and the elderly. While routine health check-ups are indispensable for seniors, it is also becoming an expensive affair.
The cost of a full body check-up for senior citizens starts from Rs. 1000 and goes as high as Rs. 20,000 or beyond—as we add condition-specific tests. What’s worse, the charges become more pressing as we switch from neighbourhood clinics to premium health centres.
Medications & Essential Drugs
Recently, the government allowed pharma companies to increase the ceiling price of over 800 essential drugs by about 10.8% in 2022 as reported by TOI. This is a record-breaking move that has disrupted the household budget for many, especially senior citizens. Given the chain of pre-existing diseases that elders carry, they bear the hardest brunt of medication costs every month.
Emergency Hospitalisation
The most dreadful phase of post-retirement life is a medical emergency. What’s worse is hospitalisation due to chronic ailments like cancer, stroke, paralysis, and others. Given the weakening immunity during old age, emergency hospitalisation can turn into extended hospital admission for senior citizens. On average, a medical emergency can cost elders no less than Rs. 3-4 lakhs, including treatment, medications, and recovery.
4 Smart Ways to Reduce Post-Retirement Medical Expenses
Here’s how to reduce out-of-pocket medical expenses during retirement days:
Take Preventive Care
The foremost step in avoiding unnecessary medical expenses in old age is to take timely preventive measures. This involves:
- Following a healthy routine
- Undergoing regular health check-ups
- Consuming a balanced diet, and
- Keeping yourself physically active
Taking care of yourself is the first step in keeping critical illnesses at bay, especially during the golden years. At Care Health Insurance, we promise healthy living to elders by packing our health insurance for senior citizens with free annual health check-ups. The annual health check-ups.
Buy a Suitable Health Insurance Plan
When hitting old age, opting for a health plan saves the elderly from losing their life-time’s savings due to an unexpected life event. To avert it, health insurance proves to be one of the wisest investments for senior citizens. Given the specific medical needs of elders, they should look for health policies offering the following benefits:
- Minimal pre-policy medical check-ups
- Automatic recharge of the sum insured
- Annual health check-ups
- OPD Coverage
- Domiciliary Hospitalisation expenses
- Up to 10% No Claim Bonus Annually
However trivial, these benefits help senior citizens in cutting down out-of-pocket expenses while securing their finances better.
Check for the Co-payment and Deductible Options
While it is difficult to read all the policy-related documents, senior citizens must check for these two important features– co-payment and deductibles. Under the co-payment clause, the policyholders must bear a certain percentage of every claim amount.
On the other hand, the deductible option withholds a certain amount to be paid by the policyholder before accessing the insurance benefits. The policyholders can customise the deductible amount according to their healthcare budget. The higher the deductible amount, the lesser the premium amount one would bear. Thus, senior citizens must check and evaluate these two options to manage their medical funds wisely.
Avail of Tax Deductions
The best part of opting for senior citizen health insurance is the benefit of medical expenses deduction under the income tax act for senior citizens. Especially for citizens above 60 years of age, the ITR act provides tax deductions of up to INR 50,000 under section 80D. It helps elders in saving big on taxes without compromising on critical health insurance benefits.
>> Click to Know How to Avoid Rejection of your Medical Insurance Claim?
Supporting Old Age With Care Health Insurance
Old age brings along a slew of unavoidable expenses— from medicines to routine tests, and regular doctor visits. At Care Health Insurance, we promise senior citizens lifelong health and financial security with our old age exclusive policies– ‘Care Senior’ and ‘Senior Health Advantage’. The policies come with unique benefits like annual health check-ups, domiciliary hospitalisation expenses, only 20% co-payment, a 10% yearly no-claim bonus up to a maximum of 50%, and automatic recharge of the sum insured once every year. That’s what makes Care Health Insurance the ideal choice enabling senior citizens to make the most of their golden years.
>> Also Read why mediclaim policy is more helpful than medical loan in hindi (क्यों है मेडिकल लोन की तुलना में मेडिक्लेम पॉलिसी मददगार?)
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