Difference between Health Insurance and Personal Accident Insurance Policy

Healthcare insurance is vital in any person’s life. It ensures a safe and secure future along with no stress of medical emergencies uprooting all your savings. Despite many benefits of healthcare plans, there are some situations that call for the need for a personal accident insurance policy. There are quite a few differences between a personal accident policy and traditional health plans. Choosing the right insurance policy is a tricky feat. Learning how to compare health policies is critical. This ensures that all your medical needs are being catered to and you incur the maximum benefits of the insurance policy.  

To make your job just a little bit easier, here is the difference between health insurance and personal accident insurance.

1. Their Purpose

The first essential difference which is pretty straightforward is why these types of plans exist in the first place. Both a health insurance policy and personal accident insurance policy serve different purposes. The goal of health insurance is to cover any expenses that are linked to hospitalization, medical procedures, and more that result from an illness or injury. Learn more about the terms related to health insurance here. Alternatively, a personal accident policy operates with the goal of giving beneficiaries insurance coverage only during the time of hospitalisation caused due to accident, accidental deaths or even partial/severe disability that arose from an accident.

2. Medical Coverage

Another key difference between health insurance plans and a personal accident policy is the amount of coverage they offer. Traditional health insurance offers a host of benefits  when it comes to the expenditures related to falling ill- such as hospitalization, ambulance charges, prescription medication costs, and any surgical procedure expenditures. Not all health insurance policies are this comprehensive, but you are likely to find a plan that offers all these benefits, with few offered as add-ons to a basic cover. On the other hand, a personal accident policy has the scope to be comprehensive, but most personal accident policies provide a lumpsum amount that can be used for hospitalisation. However, it covers only personal accident-related costs.

3. Post and Pre-Hospitalization Cover

Pre-hospital expenses result from cost that is incurred before the patient gets hospitalised due to the same disease.. Post hospitalization expenses  are the cost incurred after the patient gets discharged from the hospital for treatment of the diagnosed disease.  . The number of days covered by your insurer for pre and post hospitalisations expenses may vary. Alternatively, a personal accident policy does not offer this benefit. It simply takes care of hospitalization bills associated with the treatment of the medical injuries sustained from an accident.

4. Disability Expenses

The damage incurred by an accident is often so unpredictable that it can lead to disabilities. Personal accident insurance policies refer to these injuries as total/partial permanent disability or total/partial temporary disability. It offers coverage in pretty much all situations of disability arising out of an accident. Health insurance does not offer this coverage, particularly when disability is the result of an accident.

5. Death Coverage

Perhaps one of the biggest differences between health insurance and personal accident insurance is the fact that personal accident cover offers coverage in case of accidental death while health insurancedoesn’t cover death. Death coverage is offered as a death benefit in life insurance policies, but health insurance is typically not likely to cover it. Death from a personal accident when the expired has opted for a personal accident policy, however, allow the complete Sum Assured to be turned over to the beneficiary preappointed by the policyholder. Hence, keep this essential difference in mind before you buy health insurance online without comparing policies.

Summarised View

These were some of the key differences between the healthcare plan and personal accident insurance. Both have different functions and cater to different medical needs of the people claiming the insurance. Hence getting both of them really helps you reduce your financial burden and secures your future.

To sum up, here is a table that gives you a quick insight into the differences between a health policy and a personal accident insurance policy.

Parting Words

Ensure you are clear about the many ways in which these two types of policies differ. Exercising due diligence before purchasing a policy will ensure that you and your family can receive the right financial resources you need if any potential health issues arise.

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