In the course of the pandemic, the excessive medical prices and premature deaths made Ankur rethink his insurance coverage necessities. He witnessed how pals and family discovered themselves fully unprepared for the suddenness with which they misplaced somebody close to, and the monetary implications of shedding an incomes member. Lots of them had been saddled with big medical payments and issues with insurance coverage claims. Although Ankur’s present life and medical insurance insurance policies are sufficient to satisfy his tax-saving wants, he desires to purchase extra insurance coverage for himself and his faily. Does he have to improve his well being coverage to a sum assured of Rs 7.5 lakh and present life cowl of Rs 50 lakh? He desires to understand how he can consider the adjustments to his insurance coverage wants within the midst of the pandemic and what his choices are.


It is crucial for Ankur to grasp that his insurance coverage choices shouldn’t be purely pushed by tax-saving issues. Whereas it might be a profit that’s positively helpful, it shouldn’t be the deciding issue in terms of the sum assured or protection for a household like Ankur’s which is dependant on him for his or her varied monetary objectives. Motivated by the worry of contracting covid amidst a number of potential waves, investing in a complete well being plan for his household of three (together with his spouse and son) makes excellent sense. In actual fact, Ankur might additionally select covid-specific insurance policies supplied by all insurers. He might contemplate making a porting request as he’s searching for insurance policies with larger sum insured and higher options like zero co-payment, no room-rent capping and shorter ready intervals.

Ankur had bought his first insurance coverage coverage 4 years in the past as a way to guard his household’s monetary future. Nonetheless, he should consider his present cowl not merely as a tax-saving instrument, however whether or not will probably be sufficient to switch his revenue in case of his unlucky demise. Ideally, the sum assured of Ankur’s time period plan must be 15–20 occasions of his annual revenue, and the coverage tenure must be till his retirement age (61–81 years).

A well-insured family is at all times higher outfitted to take care of financial uncertainties. Safety merchandise have gotten the muse of monetary planning particularly contemplating the affect of a lethal pandemic. Throughout unprecedented occasions like these, it is necessary for nuclear households like Ankur’s to make the appropriate and well timed choices about safety particular to 1’s wants.

(Content material on this web page is courtesy Centre for Funding Schooling and Studying (CIEL). Contributions by Girija Gadre, Arti Bhargava and Labdhi Mehta.)