Health Insurance – Why Should it be Bought Online?

Updated on November 26, 2020

Among the enormous surge in the realm of online marketing, the insurance industry is not far behind the line in terms of purchasing plans online. Buying policies online or availing various services pertaining to the insurance plans through the internet is in vogue today.  There are different insurance companies, including the ones who are selling health plans, which have started online portals to encourage the people to check out information online and buy them at the click of a button. 

Further, these online portals also help in informing customers or applicants about the types of health insurance plans, their claim procedures and renewal process, which helps them in deciding which policy to buy. Many prospective buyers are switching to online purchasing because it’s not only convenient but also the plans can be availed at attractive prices.

For purchasing a health insurance plan online, you just need to check the internet to buy insurance online, then read about the plan details. After deciding upon a policy, you need to fill up an online form and pay through debit or credit card, internet banking or UPI. So, before searching for your ideal health insurance plan online, let’s check out the various benefits of buying them online. 

Pros of Buying Health Insurance Plans Online

Policies bought online helps you in the following ways:

  • Accessing all the health policies
  • Availing coverage to a maximum 
  • A feature to compare plans online
  • An option to choose a lower premium 
  • Helps you tobuy best insurance online from the suitable insurance companies
  • It helps comparing the policy premiums and avail the one that best suits your budget.

Some other advantages of buying health insurance online include:

  • Convenience of shopping
  • Ease of transaction
  • Higher settlement ratio of claim
  • No need to consult an agent or middleman 
  • Options for comparing various plans
  • Robust security
  • Time-saving
  • Transparent conditions and terms
  • 24*7 assistance

Let’s delve into details on some of the pointers given:

Multiple Plans, Single Platform

Through this technology, one can check out various insurance plans using a single platform. This helps a person in checking out various benefits of different types of health insurance plans and comparing them, gathering information about benefits and features provided by each type of health plan. The different health plans for which one can gather knowledge through the online portal are:

  • Critical illness insurance
  • Family health insurance
  • Individual health insurance
  • Mediclaim plans
  • Senior citizen health plans
  • Personal accident plans

Thus the comparison and finding new policies become faster, convenient, and easier. Besides, buying policy online becomes more affordable as compared to the offline channel. 

Lower Premium Rates

Whatever may be the benefits and features of a health insurance plan, the deciding factor for buying an insurance plan is the premium rates. People usually check the cost of an insurance plan before buying it. In case of health insurance, there is no fixed premium rate and the charges can be quite different from one insurer to another. Moreover, offline buying process involves the charges of intermediaries such as agent or a broker. But buying a policy online reduces the costs, which are charged by the intermediaries. Further, this saves operational costs and other expenses. When potential customers buy the policy online directly from the insurer, then the distribution charges are not added to the premiums, which lower the premium costs. Thus buying a policy online helps insurance companies in providing offers on premiums or cost benefits since the aforementioned charges are reduced to a great extent. 

Making an Informed Decision 

Through technological advancements, the insurance aggregators are easily able to share various information related to insurance policies which are sold by different insurers that are available in the market. It helps customers in comparing different policies so that they can buy the best insurance online, which is suitable to them. Further, it also aids a person in knowing about any perfunctory benefits like the nature of coverage available, different benefits like bonuses, cashless claim benefits and others. Further, these portals also inform about the renewal process, the process of buying a new policy and claim process. 

So you can make an informed decision about purchasing a health plan, which is the most suitable plan for you after knowing the cons and pros of a plan. 

Convenient Online Buying

Online purchasing of a policy is synonymous with ease of buying when it comes to insurance plans. In the offline process, you have to go through the hassle of dealing with the agent and to submit physical copies of different documents for buying a policy. But as for the online process, you can do it without much trouble. In case of an online process, you can search and find health insurance plans online from the comfort of your own home or workplace whenever and wherever you feel like. Further, when in doubt, a customer can contact the insurance company through customers care helplines and chat boxes to solve their queries. 

For the online application, what a person is required to do is fill up an application form, and upload scanned copies of the documents asked by the insurer. This helps in ensuring that the information entered by the policyholder is correct. Further, it is a hassle free process and paperless too. 

No Chances of Mis-selling of Policies 

Many insurance companies have suffered from a backlash due to misleading information i.e. misleading customers into buying a policy which is not required by the customer or not suitable for the customer by the agents to complete their personal targets. This not only leads to hassle but also destroys the trust and reputation of the company. So, if you buy a policy online, there is no chance of getting misled by anyone. Further, it is purchased directly after reading all the required information so there are negligible chances of being fooled by an agent. Further, every information is in writing so this reduces the wrongful selling of products by the company. Claim settlement process also becomes easier as customers have already submitted all necessary documents while buying the policy. As all the required details are filled by customers themselves, there is very little scope of mistake and hence, there are no last-minute issues that can arise during claim processing. 

Online Assistance

If there are any questions that the applicant has in mind, one can contact the insurer through offline as well as online channels. One can contact through phone, SMS, online chat, email, etc. These facilities provide real time solutions to customer’s problems. 

Online Reviews Help in Making the Right Decision 

It is natural to check for reviews before buying a health insurance policy you want to buy. Reviews tell about the experiences of other existing customers. If a policy has bad reviews, potential customers won’t buy it. So, to ensure positive reviews the policy provider company works hard to best possible service. Online reviews serve as a guide to help customers to buy the insurance online. 

Final Word 

Due to the sky-rocketing expenses of medical treatment, there is a surge in the purchasing of health insurance policies. But due to various hassles in buying a policy like misinformation and too much paperwork, the trend has shifted from offline to online purchasing. Due to higher availability of information on the internet and lower premium rates, people find it easier to buy policy online. In today’s digital world, people are so used to of using internet that they prefer this mode in almost each and every aspect of their lives, starting from buying groceries to planning their insurance portfolio. And this is the major reason why online purchasing of health insurance has boomed in recent times. 

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