​Buying a comprehensive health insurance policy is the option for seafarers to pay for exorbitant medical expenses. It ensures that your medical expenses are taken care of by your insurance company, thereby, eliminating any financial burden and protecting your hard-earned savings.
Get a better understanding of comprehensive health insurance by going through its benefits below:

1. Wider Coverage
A comprehensive health insurance policy comes with wider coverage. It provides coverage for in-patient hospitalization expenses along with pre and post-hospitalization expenses. It also covers the cost of availing road ambulance services and day care procedures. Most plans also offer coverage for AYUSH treatment, organ donor expenses and domiciliary hospitalization expenses. In some plans, maternity expenses may also be covered after a waiting period.

2. Covers the Entire Family
Most comprehensive health insurance plans in India provide coverage to the entire family. You can cover your spouse and children under the same policy with you. Some plans may also extend coverage to your parents and parents-in-law. The sum insured may be either available on an individual or floater basis.

3. Outpatient Treatment
Unlike basic health plans, most comprehensive health insurance plans provide coverage for outpatient treatment or OPD expenses. It pays for the OPD consultation cost that you may incur if you visit a doctor without the need for getting hospitalized.

4. Pre-existing Disease Coverage
All comprehensive health insurance plans provide coverage for pre-existing diseases. However, such diseases are covered only after a waiting period. Generally, pre-existing diseases come with a waiting period of 2 to 4 consecutive years.

5. Riders/Add-on Covers
Besides basic coverage, a comprehensive health plan also comes with a few riders or add-on covers. You can purchase these riders to expand the coverage level of your policy. Some of the most common riders available under comprehensive health insurance plans are critical illness cover, maternity cover, hospital daily cash, personal accident cover, etc.

6. Cashless Treatment
Just like regular health plans, a comprehensive health insurance policy also offers cashless treatment facilities to its policyholders. Under cashless treatment, the hospital bills are directly paid by your health insurance company. All you need to do is visit a network hospital of your insurer to avail cashless medical treatment.

7. Cumulative Bonus
​A comprehensive health insurance policy comes with a cumulative bonus benefit. It increases your sum insured by a certain percentage if you do not raise any claim in the previous policy year for no extra cost.

Comprehensive health insurance plans are known for their extensive policy coverage. Take a look at some of the most common covers available under comprehensive health plans in India:

• In-patient hospitalization
• Day care treatment
• Pre-hospitalization
• Post-hospitalization
• Organ donor expenses
• Domiciliary hospitalization
• OPD treatment
• AYUSH Treatment
• Emergency ambulance​

• Indemnity Plans
• Defined-benefit Plan

​Five Indemnity Health Insurance Plans
Indemnity plans are the traditional health insurance that covers your for hospitalisation expenses up to the sum insured. These plans include:

1. Mediclaim Insurance
2. Individual Coverage
3. Family Floater Coverage
4. Senior Citizen Coverage
5. Unit Linked Health Plans

​Three  Definite-Benefit Plans
​On the other hand, under a defined-benefit plan, the insured is compensated a lump sum amount on the detection of illness. These plans include:

1. Critical Illness Plan
2. Personal Accident Plan
3. Hospitalisation cash benefit plan

​​Indemnity Health Insurance​

1. Medical Insurance
Mediclaim insurance compensates you for the hospitalisation expenses incurred due to illness or accidental stay. It includes in-patient expenses such as nursing charges, surgery expenses, doctor’s fee, oxygen, anaesthesia etc. This insurance is known as Mediclaim Policy that is available in the market as group mediclaim, individual medical insurance overseas medical insurance etc.

2. Individual Insurance
 Individual insurance policy is meant for an individual only. Under this policy, you are entitled to receive the incurred amount during a hospitalisation. The insured can claim up to the basic sum insured. With this policy, the covered members get individual sum insured. For instance, if you own an individual health cover of Rs. 1 lakh where your spouse is also covered, you both can claim up to Rs.1 lakh, individually.

3. Family Floater Plan
This policy comes with a twist and meant for the entire family. You can cover your complete family under a single plan with Family Floater health insurance policy. The sum insured is equally divided among the members. One positive thing is that the premium that you shell out with these plans are comparatively lesser than the individual or mediclaim policies.

4. Unit Linked Health Plans
Unit Linked Plans, commonly known as ULIPs are investment cum insurance plans that come with the dual benefits of investment and insurance. With this plan, a portion of paid premiums are utilised in the stock market and the insured is offered with insurance coverage. The returns are based on how the market performs.

5. Group Mediclaim
Group Health Insurance plans are gaining popularity among the medium or large scale enterprises which are offered by the employers. This policy is helpful in retaining the talent within an organisation. With health insurance plan becoming imperative, the employers cover their employers for a financial crisis and prudence. ​

​Definite-Benefit Plans

​Critical Illness Plan
This plan is especially design to treat certain specific illness. With lifestyle disease are on the rise, covering yourself against these illnesses has become imperative. As treating these can be an expensive affaire, especial for a middle-class family, buying critical insurance you can mitigate those expenses up to an extent. On the detection of an illness, it pays a pre-decided amount towards treatment, irrespective of pre-or post hospitalisation expenses. The major diseases that are covered most of the critical illness plans.

Hospital Daily Cash
This coverage is offered by some of the health as an in-built cover under their health insurance coverage.  Under this policy, the insured is paid with a daily cash allowance up to a certain limit, apart from the hospitalisation expenses.

Personal Accident Plan 
This policy covers the owner/driver against an accidental injury or death. A lump sum amount is paid to the insured or its family in case of death, loss of income due to permanent partial or total disability.

​Hospital Daily Cash
This coverage is offered by some of the health as an in-built cover under their health insurance coverage.  Under this policy, the insured is paid with a daily cash allowance up to a certain limit, apart from the hospitalisation expenses.

Personal Accident Plan 
This policy covers the owner/driver against an accidental injury or death. A lump sum amount is paid to the insured or its family in case of death, loss of income due to permanent partial or total disability.

The exponential upsurge of quality healthcare expenses has made it compulsory for every seafarer to be covered with a health insurance. Health insurance mitigates those unexpected financial burden arising out of an accidental hospitalization or illness. 

Apart from the ever-rising medical expenses, the reasons for buying health insurance are:

1. Comes with Lower Premium
Yes only if you buy it when you are young. Yes, the health insurance premium is much lower in this age than when it is in your old age. As you’re less likely to fall sick in this stage, insurance companies offer health insurance plan at a lower premium considering the low-risk appetite. If you compare, the same premium that you pay at your 30s will cost you double in your 50s.

2. Easy to Get Insurance
It’s quite difficult to avail health insurance with existing health issues. Even if you get that cost you a higher premium. If you don’t disclose at the time of buying and claim for a complicacy arising out of such illness, your claim will get rejected by default. At your young stage you less prone to such illness, so availing health insurance is easy.

3.  Save More on Tax
The Section 80D of Income Tax Act 1961, benefits the insured with tax benefits for paying the health insurance premium. By health insurance at an early age, you enjoy tax benefit for a longer period as compared to a person who bought it in his/her middle age.

4. Reap the Benefits of Savings
In other words, health insurance is a kind of investment to cover yourself financially against unforeseen circumstances. If you invest at your young age, you will eventually develop the habit of savings. As inflation has a sharp impact on every sphere of our life, by growing the habit of savings you can cope up with this up to an extent.

​5. No Waiting Period
Health insurance comes with waiting periods such as initial waiting period of 30 days, a pre-existing illness waiting period of 2 to 4 years etc. However, it may differ from insurer to insurer. When you are hale and hearty, you don’t need to claim your insurance. This way you can serve the waiting period easily and a file your insurance without a hassle.

6. Avail Bonus
​Health insurance comes with an additional bonus as well. One such bonus is No Claim Bonus that is offered for not claiming your insurance, which ranges from 20% to 50%. The NCB if offered as a discount in the premiums of consecutive years or as a hike in sum insured. When you are young there are less chances of claiming insurance and you can earn a maximum of NCB bonus and can make the best out of your health insurance policy.

• ​Term insurance
• Term insurance with return of premium
• Unit Linked Insurance Plans
• Endowment plans
• Moneyback policy
• Whole life insurance
• Group life insurance
• Child Insurance Plans
• Retirement Plans

1. Term Insurance Plan
The term insurance plan is one of the most sought-after types of life insurance policies in India. This is one of the types of life insurance policy in India that you can buy for a specific period of 10, 20, 30 or more years, hence the name.
While some other types of life insurance policy offer maturity benefits, term insurance does not. It is one reason why term insurance, being the best insurance policy in India, is comparatively cheaper than other types of life insurance schemes. 

Term insurance is pure life cover, unlike other types of life insurance policies which have a saving component. 
​​
2. Term Insurance with Return of Premium
A term insurance plan is amongst the types of life insurance policies that provides a death benefit but no maturity benefit.
If you live a healthy lifestyle, the probability that you will outlive the best insurance policy in India you have bought also increases. For you, among the many life insurance types, a term insurance with return of premium is one of the best insurance policy in India, which also give you maturity benefits.  It is one of the types of term insurance plans that give back the premiums you pay on surviving the policy period. 

3. Unit Linked Insurance Plan (ULIP)
A ULIP is one of the types of life insurance policies in India that fulfill both investment & insurance.  Being one of the types of life insurance, it has a lock-in period of five years, which makes it a long-term investment instrument that comes with risk protection. ULIPs also allow you to balance your funds as per market dynamics.

4. Endowment Policy
​Endowment policies are one of the types of life insurance policies that provide you with the combined benefit of life insurance and savings. Along with giving you the life cover, these types of life insurance help you save money regularly over a period to get a lump sum at maturity.
What makes them one of the most useful types of life insurance policies is that they help fulfill long-term goals in life. You will also get the maturity amount if you survive the policy tenure.
Endowment policies, being one of the most appropriate types of life insurance plans, also help you create a financial cushion for your family to meet various financial objectives in life.

​5. Moneyback Policy
The purpose of investing in the insurance policy in India for your loved ones can be to create wealth over an extended period. However, most of the types of life insurance do not provide any provision to get funds before their tenure ends. It is where a moneyback policy plays a vital role in solving the problem of liquidity.
As the name suggests, moneyback policies are one of the popular types of life insurance policies in India that give money back regularly. 
It pays a percentage of the assured sum throughout the policy tenure, unlike other types of life insurance plans that offer no returns till maturity. ​

​6. Whole Life Insurance
What distinguishes a whole life insurance plan from other life insurance types is that it provides insurance coverage to the insured for the entire life, up to 100 years of age.
Typically, the death benefit, under a whole life insurance, is payable to the beneficiary in the case of the untimely demise of the policyholder. On the other hand, you are eligible to receive a maturity benefit under a whole life insurance policy if you cross 100 years of age.
Another significant feature of such whole life insurance plans is that some offer the option to pay premium for the first 10-15 years while you get the benefits for the entire life.

7. Group Life Insurance 
Just like group health insurance, group life insurance is one of the types of life insurance policies that covers a group of people under one master policy. Such life insurance types are generally provided as part of an employment benefit.

8. Child Insurance Plans 
When it comes to life insurance types, a child plan is an investment+insurance  plan that helps you meet your child’s financial needs. A child insurance plan will help you create wealth for your child’s future needs like education.
You can start investing in these plans from the birth of your child. You get the flexibility of investing your hard earned money into several funds on the basis of your financial condition and goals in mind.

9. Retirement Plans 
Retirement Plans are amongst the types of life insurance policies that provides financial security and help you with wealth creation after your retirement. With Retirement Plan, you will get a sum of money as pension in the vesting period.
In case of your untimely demise during the policy term, your nominee will get the death benefits. 

Purchasing life insurance policy perhaps Seafarer's main monetary choices, however in all honesty, just 10% of Seafarers are safeguarded. However, for what reason is it so significant? Indeed, paying little heed to the amount you earn, nobody knows what's in store.

​Lots of seafarers die prematurely every year from ailment or mishap and, in the event that you end up being the sole provider in the family and you were to die, it could have annihilating ramifications for your family their capacity to pay family costs, obligations and keep up with their way of life.

The least every seafarer can do, accordingly, is to get his family's monetary future by purchasing a disaster protection strategy, Life Insurance cover. In addition, don't ignore advantages of an extra security during your lifetime, particularly in case you are youthful. We list 10 convincing purposes behind purchasing a life coverage strategy.

​1.Life Insurance takes care of YOUR LOVED ONES even after you are gone.
​This is the main part of extra security as Life Insurance that one requirements to factor in. You joined Merchant Navy to give good life to your loved ones.  Your family is reliant upon you even after you're gone and you surely don't have any desire to let them down. Regardless of whether it's for supplanting lost pay, paying for your youngster's schooling or ensuring your companion get the genuinely necessary monetary security, disaster protection could make all the difference for your enduring wards.

2. Life Insurance manages DEBT:
You don't need your family to manage monetary liabilities during an emergency. Any remarkable obligation a home loan, vehicle loan, individual loan, will be dealt with if you buy the right life insurance policy.​

3. Life Insurance accomplishes LONG-TERM GOALS:
Since it is an instrument that keeps you contributed as long as possible, it would assist you with accomplishing your drawn out objectives like purchasing a home or arranging your retirement. It additionally provides you with diverse investment options that come along with different types of insurance policies.

Some insurance policies are tied to certain investment products that pay dividends based on their performance. If you are opting for an investment-linked insurance policy, be sure to read the fine print to be fully aware of the potential risks and returns.

​​4. LIFE INSURANCE FULFILLS YOUR RETIREMENT GOALS:
Who wouldn't care for their retirement investment funds to go on until they do? With a life insurance plan, you can guarantee you have a standard stream of income each month. Placing cash in an annuity resembles a benefits plan-put in some cash consistently in a life insurance cover and enjoy a consistent income each month even after retirement.

5. BUYING INSURANCE IS CHEAPER WHEN YOU ARE YOUNGER
However, if you do have dependents or you have co-signed a loan with your parents (or any other member of your family or friend), whether it be a student loan or a home loan, you need to consider buying a life insurance policy. 

You have to decide how much insurance you need considering different resources you might possess. Regardless of whether you're single, there might be different wards and you need to guarantee they're dealt with. "The prior the better. Single individuals offer monetary help for maturing guardians or a kin with uncommon requirements. Insurability is one more motivation to consider life insurance when you're single. In case you're young, healthy and have a decent family wellbeing history, your insurability is at its pinnacle, and you can get the best rates on your life coverage strategy."

​6. YOUR BUSINESS IS ALSO TAKEN CARE OF: 
Seafarer won't wish to sail for whole life and would always wish to start some business with his hard earned money.  Life insurance isn't only for yourself and your family. Some insurance policies also take care of your business. There are two types of life insurance policies-a term insurance policy and a life insurance policy.

A term insurance provides protection for a specified period of time (10, 20 or 30 years) and pays out the benefits only if you die during the term. The policy will expire and coverage will end if you outlive your policy. An investment-cum-protection plan on the other hand offers you a lump sum amount on the completion of the term of the policy. These plans also offer you protection but the cover is usually not as high as offered with term plans.

7. TAX-SAVING : 
Seafarer's income is tax free but he has to pay taxes on the money earned by other sources.  You could save taxes with insurance policies irrespective of what plan you buy. The premium you pay on an insurance policy is eligible for a maximum tax benefit of Rs 1.5 lakh under Section 80C, and for tax-free proceeds on death/maturity under Section 10 (D) of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

​8. A TOOL FOR FORCED SAVINGS: 
If you choose a conventional or unit-liked policy, you pay a premium each month, which is higher than what it costs to insure you. This bit of extra money is invested and it accrues cash value. This cash can then be borrowed against the policy or you can choose to sell it or draw income from it.

9. YOU MAY NOT BE QUALIFIED FOR IT LATER: 
​Seafarer is reluctant to buy life insurance policy when he is healthy.  Life insurance policies run on uncertainties. You may be healthy now and paying a premium for life insurance may seem to be an added financial burden, but if you suddenly fall ill, you may not be allowed to but a life insurance policy. Therefore, it is imperative to buy one early on in your life because it remains in force if your health deteriorates later on.
​
10. PEACE OF MIND: 
Death is unavoidable. In the face of tragedy, the least you can do for your family is to secure their financial future. Even if it is a small policy, you know that you've done all you can to help them tide over difficult times.
"Life insurance is a great tool for both protection as well as to save in a disciplined manner, which leads to creation of a good corpus. The need for life insurance changes at different stages of your lifecycle depending on the financial obligations and dependencies."