A senior citizen, by definition, is anyone aged 60 years and over.
Many seniors may have bought a standard insurance plan in their younger years, but as they reach age 60, this plan expires.
A senior citizen’s insurance coverage becomes necessary if elders want to avoid tapping into their retirement funds to cater for medical expenses.
However, a senior citizen’s coverage plan is often more expensive than a standard or regular comprehensive health insurance policy.
This post explains why this is so while highlighting viable, cost-effective insurance options for senior members.
What is health care insurance?
The first question often asked by the uninitiated is what is health care insurance ? Health care insurance is an insurance plan that covers the medical needs and costs of a policyholder. These needs may include hospitalization, surgery, medication, and an in or out-patient recovery protocol.
The policyholder keeps the insurance plan active by paying the insurer an annual premium.
There are different types of healthcare insurance plans, such as:
- Standard individual insurance coverage
- Family floater health insurance coverage
- Dedicated insurance plans
- Critical illness health care coverage
- Senior citizen’s health insurance
What is senior citizen health insurance, and why is it costlier?
Health coverage as a senior citizen is a necessity rather than a choice.
Standard comprehensive health coverage cannot cover the health needs of a senior citizen. And because senior citizens are retire and may not have a continuous source of income, paying medical expenses out of their pocket could be devastating. So elders are expect to buy a senior citizens health insurance policy for a specific coverage plan.
The premium payment on a senior citizen’s health cover is higher than a standard individual health insurance coverage because of the age risk.
The risk to the insurance company is greater for a senior citizen because of the assumed health risks that come with old age.
The elderly are at a greater risk of a myriad of health issues. The risk of high blood pressure, hypertension, heart disease, organ failure, diabetes, cancer, and many other ailments is higher once a person reaches 60 years old.
It is the primary reason an insurer will require greater premium payments than usual to insure senior citizens’ health.
Can senior citizens lower premium payments?
Senior citizens can seek to lower the premium payment burden on health care insurance in several ways.
For starters, an individual or family floater coverage early in life can make the transition to senior health insurance a bit less expensive.
By keeping regular premium payments throughout your adult life, your insurer can make concessions to the premium you would have to pay as a senior citizen.
However, this is true only if you have been commit to a single insurer for most of your life. The insurer may decide to maintain your regular premium payments even when you become a senior citizen.
Dedicated health insurance plans and co-pay option
Senior citizens can keep their premium payments low by taking a co-pay option.
That is where a senior citizen pays a percentage of their hospitalisation and medical bills while the other costs are subsidise by their insurer. The insurance company will ease up on the amount of expected premium payment if a senior citizen decides to take this option.
Also, buying a dedicated health plan can help reduce the cost of premium payments to a senior citizen. A dedicated plan can be an add-on health plan like a critical illness rider. The critical illness rider add-on plan will only be activate if and when the policyholder suffers from the ailment cover.
For example, if a policyholder takes a Critical Illness Rider for prostate cancer, the policy becomes active if or when the senior citizen has been diagnose with prostate cancer. The insurer will dole out a lump sum to the insured rather than cater to their day-to-day medical expenses.
A dedicated plan alongside regular senior citizens health insurance coverage will keep the premium low. However, buying a dedicated insurance policy in isolation from a standard senior citizen health coverage would make you pay a high premium.
In Conclusion
As a senior citizen, you are expose to more health risks than you were in your youth or middle age. Senior citizens are at a greater risk of life-threatening medical conditions like coronary heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, organ failure, and cancer.
For these reasons, insurance companies require a higher premium for their health insurance than the standard individual or family floater coverage.
However, you may keep this premium low by buying a comprehensive health insurance policy early on in life, opting for a co-pay option or including add-on dedicated plans like a critical illness rider.
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