PANRE plan - Physician Assistant National Recertifying Exam

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Once a working spouse becomes eligible for coverage under a plan sponsored by their employer, their eligibility to participate in SLU’s plan ends, and future claims directed to SLU’s plan could be denied. Therefore, it is important for working spouses, who are eligible for coverage under their employer's plan, enroll in that plan and notify Human Resources within 31 days. This will ensure the working spouse's claims are processed correctly and do not later need to be reprocessed and denied, in which case your spouse would be required to pay the claims. In addition, the SLU employee’s monthly contribution can be reduced immediately to avoid paying for spousal coverage they do not have.

© Getty Images Woman browsing in electronics store.

As a small business owner, you're no doubt aware that it's important to not only attract solid talent, but do what you can to retain talented employees. And a good way to do that is to make sure you're offering a nice benefits package. That package might include a retirement savings plan you help contribute to, paid vacation time, and health insurance.

Now, you should know that if you run a business with fewer than 50 full-time employees, you're technically not required to provide health insurance. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't.

Healthcare can be an astronomical expense in the absence of insurance. And even if you're willing to raise salaries in lieu of providing insurance, you may find that prospective employees are turned off by the prospect of having to go out and purchase health coverage themselves.

It's important to be realistic about how much you can afford to spend on health insurance. As a smaller operation, you can't benefit from the bulk rates a company with 12,000 employees might snag. So you'll need to take a look at your banking records and see what's realistic, keeping in mind that you'll likely be picking up a large share of those premium costs.

2. Figure out if you want a high-deductible insurance plan

High-deductible health insurance plans can be burdensome for participants -- especially those with family members who tend to get sick often. But the costs for these plans can be more reasonable, as plans with higher deductibles tend to come with lower premiums. That's something to keep in mind if you'll be covering those premiums at 100%.

Also, if you offer a high-deductible plan, it may allow you to offer a health savings account in conjunction with that plan. That could make it easier for your employees to cover their medical costs while reaping tax savings.

3. Consider partnering up with an insurance broker

As a small business owner, you may not be all that well-versed on health insurance options. But it's the job of an insurance broker to walk you through your options and do research on your behalf, so you can focus on running your business. Not only might an insurance broker help you find the right plan, but they can generally help you get set up so you don't find yourself lost in a sea of paperwork.

Whether a health insurance plan is something you're looking to offer because it's a requirement or because it's a benefit you want to provide, it's important to find the best plan for your company. Take your time in making that decision so you and your employees wind up happy with it.

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Optima Secure

This plan has been recently launched by the company. It provides consumers the option of increasing the coverage four times at no additional cost. This plan also has other benefits such as no room rent capping, protect benefit, which provide coverage for cost of kits, procedure charges and cost of disposables used in the treatment. It comes with both the individual and family coverage option with the sum insured coverage ranging from INR 5 lakh to INR 2 crore.

Key Features:

• Provides a secure benefit, where the base cover gets doubled as soon as the buyer purchase the policy
• Offers the plus benefit where there is 100% increase in coverage after two years.
• Gives the insured the benefit of restore coverage, where anytime when the insured makes a claim of INR 10 lakh, whether partial or fully, gets 100% restored for any claims within the same year.
• Offer protect benefit coverage where disposable items such as PPE kits, gloves, masks, which come under non-medical expenses are covered. Also covers the cost of disposables, procedure charges and cost of kits.
• Provides second e-opinion for almost 50 illnesess, where the insured gets full coverage for any cost incurred in receiving virtual consultation from the doctor of a network hospital.

Optima Restore- Family Plan

This is a family floater health insurance plan, which restores the sum insured instantly on partial or complete utilization of the health cover. It also offers a two times multiplier benefit, which means, 50% increase in basic sum insured only for every claim free year. This addition in the sum insured amount is subject to a maximum limit of 100%. Let’s have a look at the features that optima restore family plan provides:

Key Features:

• 100% basic sum insured is restored immediately after the first claim partial or complete utilization of the health cover.
• Provides 2X multiplier benefit where the insured receives 50% growth in basic sum insured for each claim free year, subject to a maximum limit of 100%.
• Preventive health check-ups up to INR 10,000 at the time of renewal.
• Provides daily cash of up to INR 1,000 every day and maximum of INR 6,000 per hospitalization on opting a shared accommodation in any of the networked hospitals.
• Offers family discount of 10% if two or more members are covered under this plan.

My: Health Suraksha

This policy comes in three different variants such as silver smart, gold smart and platinum smart plans. It gives the option of multiple sum insured amount ranging from INR 3 lakh to INR 75 lakh.This plan offers the coverage option for individuals,family and senior citizens. Let’s have a look at some of the prominent features of this plan:

Key Features:

• Offers the sum insured options ranging from INR 3 lakh to INR 75 lakh.
• The policyholder would get the advantage of exclusive covers like air ambulance, recovery benefit and infertility cover.
• Provides flexible benefits like opting for room rent capping and co-pay clauses.
• Offers sum insured rebound benefit, which allows the insured to get additional sum insured, that is equivalent to the claim amount paid under basic sum insured.
• The policyholder has the option of choosing a long term policy option up to three years at an affordable premium rate.
• The policyholder has the option to pay yearly premium in three, six and twelve equal installments.

My: Health Medisure Super Top-up Plan

In case the policyholder requires a bigger sum insured amount, he or she always has the option to top it up with medisure super top-up plan. This plan ensures no health check-ups up to the age of 55 years. My:health medisure super top up plan also provides full coverage up to the sum insured without any sort of sub-limits.

My: Health Women Suraksha

This policy is a comprehensive plan for women centric critical illness. It offers protection against minor ailments, major illnesses, surgeries and critical illnesses related to women.

Key Features:

• Wide range of sum insured is available in this plan ranging from INR 3 lakh to INR 24 lakh.
• Covers women specific cardiac ailments, cancer where the insured will get the coverage for almost 40 critical ailments.
• Covers major and minor illnesses where 100% sum insured is offered in treating these diseases.
• Includes coverage for loss of job, pregnancy and newborn complication cover.
• The policyholder will also get coverage for surgical procedures.
• Offers up to INR 10,000 for a second opinion, if the policyholder is not satisfied with first diagnosis.
• Minimum and maximum entry age to be covered is 18 and 45 years respectively for basic covers.

Types of Plans Listed Under My:Health Women Suraksha Insurance:

• Women Cancer Plan
• Women Cardiac Plan
• Women Cancer Plus Plan
• Women Critical Illness Essential Plan
• Women Critical Illness Comprehensive Plan

Critical Illness Insurance

HDFC ERGO critical illness insurance policy allows the insured to get the coverage to handle medical costs related to critical illnesses and lifestyle diseases such as cancer, heart attack, brain disorders, kidney failure etc. This single policy covers 15 critical illnesses and these plans are available with an easy option to buy for one and two years.

Key Features:

• Coverage of a wide range of 15 critical illnesses in one single plan.
• Lump sum payment of sum insured amount in a single transaction.
• This policy is available for one or two years and with the option of quick renewals.
• No requirement of medical check-up up to the age 45 years.
• Critical illness cover offers the tax benefits up to INR 50,000.

iCan Cancer Insurance

iCan is a health insurance plan which covers the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. This plan provides coverage to all types of cancer at all the stages with the option of lifelong renewability. If there is a diagnosis of fourth stage of cancer or a relapse kind of situation, then it pays the full coverage of the sum insured as a lump sum payment.

Key Features:

• Option of lifelong renewability of iCan health plan even after receiving claims.
• Coverage available for all kinds and all stages of cancer.
• Cashless cancer treatments in more than 13,000 network hospitals.
• Offers coverage for traditional and advanced treatments and also covers in-patient and outpatient treatments expenses.
• Provides coverage up to INR 2,000 as reimbursement per hospitalization for ambulance service.
• The policyholder is entitled to receive 100% of the sum insured as lump sum payment on the diagnosis of stage four cancer, or in the case of relapse.
• Lump sum benefit of 60% of sum insured on the base, if the insured is diagnosed with cancer of any kind of severity.
• Waiting period is of 120-day, which starts from the first date of the policy.

HDFC ERGO My Health Koti Suraksha

This is a standard health plan that provides coverage for various health costs such as hospitalization costs, critical illness treatments, major surgeries costs, daycare procedures, among others. The sum insured amount of this plan is up to INR 1 crore.

Key Features:

• Coverage includes pre-hospitalization expenses of 60 days pre-admission and post-discharge expenses up to 180 days.
• Coverage for medical operations, treatments and surgeries that require less than one day of hospitalization.
• Coverage related to AYUSH and Covid-19 treatment.
• Free health check-up within 60 days of policy renewal.
• Access to health coaching services such as nutrition, fitness and psychological counseling.
• Offers discounts on OPD consultations, pharmacy bills and diagnostic costs.