Do you have a health insurance policy? You may still fail to get the cover from the insurance company. Certain mistakes can cause serious claim-related issues, and if the claimant is a senior citizen, it can result in serious financial distress. So, even if you have the best health policy available in the market, you must avoid these 3 Health Insurance Mistakes That Every Retiree Should Try To Avoid so that they are not denied a claim when the need arises.

Not Disclosing Material Facts To The Insurance Company

There is a clause mentioned in every health insurance policy document “Non-disclosure of material facts can lead to cancellation of the policy”. Non-disclosure of material facts leads to a breach of trust. So, never conceal facts from the insurance company.

Says Shilpa Arora – co-founder and chief operating officer, Insurance Samadhan: “Senior citizens must be transparent about their pre-existing health conditions and provide all the essential details when purchasing the policy to avoid the risk of getting their health insurance claim rejected. They should look for an insurance policy with comprehensive coverage that accounts for pre-existing conditions”,

Insurance buyers should read the fine print carefully to understand the policy document and its clauses.

Also Read: Here’s How To Lower Your Health Insurance Premium After Retirement

Not Considering Medical Inflation While Planning Health Insurance Size For Retirement

Some people never review their health insurance needs. After buying a health policy early in their career, they feel it would be sufficient for covering health risks in their retirement as well.

Hospitalization risks increase after retirement. Also, medical costs increase every year due to inflation. As such, health insurance coverage also needs to be increased regularly. For instance, the cost of treatment for several illnesses has increased in the last decades and if you purchased a health policy in 2010 and don’t increase its size till 2023, it may not allow you full coverage from medical cost. So, every health policy buyer must review their coverage from time to time and increase the size of the policy as and when required.

Ignoring Key Features And Coverage While Buying A Health Policy

When buying a health policy, did you keep the retirement period in mind? If not, you have made a big mistake. Health insurance needs increase significantly during the retirement period, as age-related health issues also come into the picture.

So, it’s important to compare the key features of the policies and their extent of coverage at the time of buying the policy. You may enhance the policy features by getting add-ons or by porting your policy to another company before you retire.

You can’t afford to risk your retirement corpus by making mistakes related to health insurance coverage. So, it’s better to stay aware, make sure that you have taken the right insurance product and know about its key features as well as important policy clauses.

The author is an Independent Financial Journalist