Health insurance premium calculator, Mediclaim insurance premium calculator

So how does this calculator work?

Quite simply there are a set of fields which need to be filled to arrive at the premium…these fields include:

• Coverage Type (Individual or Family).
• Age of the customer.
• City of Residence.
• Sum Insured.
• Duration of the policy (1/2/3 years).

Enter the details and submit the information and you have the premium at your finger tips. Some of the more advanced calculators also seek information relating to Pre Existing conditions as well as the information above. Let’s quickly look at the reasons for the insurance company requiring the above information to share the premium:

• Coverage Type (Individual/Family) – In an Individual Plan, each member of the family will have an individual sum insured whereas in a Family Floater (FF) plan, the entire family will have a common sum insured. Hence the premium for a FF plan will be lower than the sum of premiums of the individual plans. It is recommended that a family opts for a FF when they are younger.
• Age of the Customer – This is the most important parameter which impact the premium of the health insurance plan. A younger insured will need to pay a lower premium than an elder person for the same sum insured.
• City of Residence – Some health plans in the market give importance to the city of residence of the customer. Applicants residing in a metro city will end up paying a higher premium than their compatriots staying in Tier II/III cities. Residents of metro cities have a higher exposure to pollution and other life style related factors.
• Sum Insured – The sum insured opted for by the proposer also impact the premium, higher the sum insured, higher the premium…the proposer must ensure they opt for the optimum sum insured while taking into consideration number of dependent family members, current lifestyle and financial position as well as family health history.
• Duration of the policy – The applicant will have an option for increasing the tenure of the policy beyond 1 year if they require…they are provided options for 2/3 years also…most companies offer a discount for a longer duration policy. The advantage of a longer duration policy is that 1) the insured need not worry about renewal every 12 months and 2) even in the event of an unfortunate claim, the premium for the following years will remain the same.
• Gender of the Insured – There are some specific women centric insurance plans which allow a discount for women / young girl children.
• Pre Existing Conditions – Some calculators also request the insured to fill in information relating to pre existing medical conditions, if they are looking for an option to reduce the waiting period under specific plans.

There are also financial impacts on the premium based on the lifestyle of the insured, if you’re a smoker individual/tobacco user/ occasional or heavy consumer of alcohol etc, your insurance premium automatically could increase with a loading applied by the insurance company. A higher Body Mass Index (BMI) could also attract a similar loading. All these additional inputs will be required to be provided on the online application form post comparison of quotes and opting for a particular plan.