My house is insured for Rs 50 lakh. However, I am going abroad for two months. Do I need to inform my insurer about this? Also, what are the typical exclusions in a householder policy?
Yes, I would advise you to inform and check with your company if your home insurance policy will continue to provide the cover during your trip abroad.
Generally, home insurance policies do not cover for perils if the house remains unoccupied for more than 30 days. However, some firms do allow for continuation of the insurance cover, provided you intimate the insurer in advance about the house being unoccupied for a certain duration.
Are newborns covered under maternity policies? What all does the insurer pay for in such policies and what are the exclusions?
Some maternity policies provide cover for newborns against any hospitalisation-related expenses in the 90 days since birth. To continue with the cover for a newborn beyond this period, you would need to purchase a separate health insurance policy for your child or add the newborn to your existing family floater policy, if any.
With regard to exclusions, the same applies primarily to the maternity portion, although you should check with your insurance company on the sum insured that would be specifically applicable for hospitalisation expenses of the newborn baby.
I am a 36-year-old working woman. I am planning to buy a health and a critical illness cover. As of now, I have no ailments. However, I would like to know if I should opt for a health plan that comes with a critical illness option built in or buy the critical illness cover separately.
A health policy and a critical illness cover are two different plans. While the health plan is an indemnity policy that reimburses your actual hospital expenses, a critical illness cover is a fixed benefit plan which pays you a fixed sum, irrespective of your actual expenses on contraction of a critical illness. As such, these two plans have a different scope of coverage.
Some health insurance policies are now offered as a combo plan, with critical illness cover included as a rider. In this case, the critical illness cover works similar to the standalone product.
The sum insured option for critical illness is also separate from the basic hospitalisation sum insured. You could opt for a combo plan because it will be more convenient for you to manage a single health insurance policy, coupled with critical illness cover as an in-built option.
Bhargav Dasgupta answers your questions
Today, MD & CEO, ICICI Lombard General Insurance
The views expressed are the expert's own. Send your queries to yourmoney@bsmail.in
