Q: I am a doctor but I do not know much about health insurance. I want to cover my whole family under the health insurance scheme. Please advise me a policy which will be best and covers everything.

A:There are various types of health insurance policies available in the market today and all of them offer cover up to Rs. 500,000 per person or more. The premium payable increases with increase in sum insured. Once you obtain a cover, the servicing of your policy will be provided by a Third Party Administrator (TPA) for your ID card issue and in case of claims under either cash less settlement or reimbursement mode. These TPAs service all insurance companies both in the public sector and the private sector and generally your experience in times of claim will be determined more by your interaction with your TPA than the insurance company. Most of the Mediclaim policies have standard terms and conditions and none of them cover everything. They have a few standard exclusion clauses viz. pre existing diseases are not covered in any policy, maternity is not covered in individual policies, few diseases like cataract are not covered for an initial stipulated time etc. I recommend you to choose your TPA, and then take a policy from the insurer with whom the TPA is empanelled. While the amount of cover (i.e. sum insured) will depend upon your ability to pay the premium vis-à-vis the cover amount you consider ample.