If you are looking for a way to improve your existing health insurance coverage. There are a few optional health insurance riders which one can consider.

A standalone health insurance plan may not be sufficient in today’s time of uncertainties and changing family needs of healthcare and it is highly recommended to get an add-on cover. A health insurance rider is an instrument which is used to enhance your scope of health insurance coverage which acts as an Add-on provision to an existing health insurance policy.

You can consider few of the below mentioned options for enhancing your existing health cover

Room Rent Waiver

There is a tendency of many people of choosing a separate room and are not comfortable sharing a room in the hospital, in which case the cost of a standalone separate room increases. In this case most of the health insurance policies have room sub-limits. In case a person getting admitted in an established healthcare hospital facility which charges a premium, a room rent waiver rider will help which allows one to get a room without additional admission fees.

Critical Illness Rider

Althoughhealth insurance plan cover critical illnesses, in some cases the amount may not be sufficient enough to take care of the costs arising due to the increasing healthcare costs. When you opt for the critical illness rider, this allows you protection from almost close to 35-40 critical illnesses like, Cancer, Heart Attack, Kidney failure, Strokes, Organ Transplants, Brain surgery etc.

Hospital Cash

This is a relatively common and popular health insurance rider among policyholders which offers coverage in the form of cash per day. If the policyholder is hospitalized, a fixed amount of hospital costs and related expenses are paid to the policy holder. During the policy tenure, the insurance company gives this amount once which applies for a fixed number of days, as per the policy.

Personal Accident Waiver

You often get compensation for various accidents, referred to as the double indemnity waiver. Accidents with a regular health insurance are subject to sub-limits.In case of permanent partial disability, total disability (temporary and permanent) and accidental death the policyholder gets a limited amount. While adding this rider to your existing health insurance policy the scope of coverage is enhanced.

Maternity Cover

This rider provides coverage against medical expenses incurred during childbirth after the waiting period of the policy is over. The waiting period for this cover depends on the insurance company and the selected insurance plan and may vary from 2 years or even more. Some of the Insurance companies also offer coverage to the new-born child of the policyholder until the end of policy tenure.

OPD Rider

This rider, as the name suggests, pays for the expenses incurred against the policy holder who is visiting the hospital as an Out Patient. With this rider a person may not need to be hospitalized for 24 hours to avail the policy benefits

The sole purpose of health insurance riders is not just for covering additional medical conditions and hospitalization expenses but also to protect the life of the insured person during critical medical emergencies which may arise.

Therefore, health insurance riders do not have the sole purpose of covering medical conditions and hospitalization but also secure the insured for unforeseen circumstances in life ahead. Different riders offer different types of benefits. The health insurance riders offer better healthcare treatment and enhanced coverage at an affordable rate.

The author is the Co-Fouder of Turtlemint