Why senior citizens require deductibles in health plans

By opting for deductibles, they can bring down the cost of health insurance premiums

- Aprajita Sharma

Health insurance, say financial planners, is mandatory for everybody, especially in view of the rising inflation and spiralling healthcare costs. Senior citizens, though, find it difficult to buy health plans: the premiums are just unaffordable.

Bhopal-based Arohi Pathak's 61-year-old mother bought an individual health insurance policy a year ago from a private sector insurer for 10 lakh sum insured at a premium of 30,500. But when she renewed the policy a year later, the premium had jumped a whopping 57% to 48,000. "The insurer had warned us about the premium hike because of the age slab changes that happen when you turn 61 but I didn't expect it to be this high," says Pathak.

To be sure, most insurance companies revise the premiums once every 4-5 years when a policyholder crosses the age threshold of say 55, 60 or 65 years. Some companies revise it every year, as Chennai-based Ritesh Gopaldas found out. His 82-year-old father paid a premium of 133,500 a year ago.

It rose to 49,500 when he renewed it in 2024. "There has been no claim on this policy in the last 20 years and yet the premium went up by 48%. I have paid more premium than the base policy coverage in the last few years," says Gopaldas.

Insurers blame the hike in premiums on rising medical inflation and the cost of hospitalization. "The price increase has happened across age groups, including for senior citizens," says Aashish Sethi, head- health SBU and travel, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance. "It is to be understood that premiums are revised as per the claims experience of all policyholders put together in a product rather than an individual policyholder. It is a global phenomenon," he adds.