Last Updated on July 29, 2019 by Gopal Gidwani

Needless to say, a critical illness in the family is enough to give you the chills and wreck you emotionally. Then do you think you can deal with the baggage of financial expenses in such a scenario? In order to lighten your financial burden, an insurance company makes provisions for cashless health insurance to its customer. To make use of this benefit to the fullest, find out about it in the guide below.

What is cashless health insurance?
When you opt for health insurance, insurance companies provide you with its huge list of network hospitals that offer treatments to its customers. This treatment is simply termed as ‘cashless treatment’ provided by the insurance company. Under cashless health insurance, the policyholders do not have to pay any of the hospitalization expenses from their own pocket.

On the other hand, these benefits of cashless treatments are provided to the customers in two different forms. Cashless treatments are made accessible to the members of the family as well as the senior citizens in the family. While cashless family insurance covers your entire family from a medical emergency, the insurance for senior citizens covers their pre-existing diseases after a specified waiting period, hospitalization charges as well as ambulance charges.

How does it work?

1. Select from the wide network of hospitals provided by the insurance companies based on your convenience.
2. Request for a pre-authorization form from the insurance desk of that hospital. You won’t have difficulty in locating the desk as every hospital provides an insurance desk. For quick access, download the form from the Third Party Administrator (TPA) website.
3. Enter and submit all your personal details at the designated desk. Once done, you will be sent a letter by TPA stating the sanctioned amount.

What are the considerations to be made before purchasing cashless health insurance?
Before opting for health insurance, every individual needs to keep a few things in mind. This is simply because of the limitations that come along with an investment in a cashless policy. Therefore, take a look at these things one should keep in mind in order to make informed decisions before the purchase:

1. In order to make use of the cashless benefit, it is important to choose a hospital based on the tie-ups of the insurance company.
2. Since certain insurance companies do not cover specific illnesses, go through the terms and conditions of the policy with great attention to details.
3. Have a photocopy of all the important documents like medical reports, lab reports, and other hospital bills.
4. If the sum assured is consumed fully, then the remaining sum of money goes out from the pocket of the policyholder.

What is the difference between cashless and reimbursement?
When you invest in a health insurance policy, you will typically be presented with two broad categories. They are cashless and reimbursement, respectively. Before you decide to opt for whichever category, it is advisable to know the differences between the two. Hence, take a look at the differences between the two and make a decision accordingly.

DIFFERENCE	CASHLESS	REIMBURSEMENT
Cost coverage	The insurance company manages and settles your hospitalization expenses up to a certain upper limit	Initially, the money goes out from your pocket which is later reimbursed by the insurance company
Treatment	The treatment is available only in the network hospitals of the insurance company	The treatment is available in any hospital of your choice
Claim	Under cashless, the settlement of claim is instant	Under reimbursement, the settlement of claim takes some time

Now that you know everything about cashless health insurance, invest in it in order to avail maximum benefits in times of need. Cashless insurance helps the policyholder financially by keeping his expenses at bay and emotionally by avoiding stressing about money requirements. Therefore, see to it that you choose a policy wisely. The best way to ensure that you land up with the best policy is by making use of a health insurance premium calculator to compare the premium as well as features and benefits of multiple policies.