According to Ms. Bui Minh Tam, 28 years old, living in Hai Phong city: "I participated in life insurance a few years ago for the purpose of saving and could receive the accumulation later. However, in the past, I have also heard a lot about health insurance that can pay for hospital fees when treating cancer, inpatient treatment, outpatient treatment, childbirth... So are these two types of insurance different? When I have life insurance, should I participate in additional health insurance?
Here is the expert's response:
To answer the question "Do you need to participate in additional health insurance if you have life insurance?", you need to clearly understand the difference in insurance benefits between these two types of insurance, and at the same time determine your protection needs as well as financial capacity.
Life insurance (BHNT) helps protect participants financially from life risks (for example: death, serious illness, permanent disability...). The insurance company will pay you a large sum of money according to the contract if there is a risk related to life. In addition, life insurance also has the ability to accumulate and invest. Depending on the type of life insurance you choose, you will receive an amount of money when the contract expires.
Health insurance (HI) supports the payment of medical expenses related to treatment such as hospital stay, medicine, surgery, maternity, dental, outpatient treatment, etc. HI does not have the ability to accumulate. If you participate in BHSK without using the benefits, the insurance company will not refund the costs you have paid.
Although more than 90% of Vietnamese people have health insurance (HI), many people still choose to participate in additional health insurance for convenience in medical examination and treatment, because the HI has a wide range of insurance, helping to pay for additional benefits and costs that are not covered by HI, while allowing customers to proactively choose hospitals for treatment.
Based on the basic differences in the nature and benefits between the types of insurance as above, deciding whether to participate in additional BHSK or not should depend on your purpose and needs.
If you want to have a reserve financial source to maintain your life when you are unfortunately unable to work, suffer from serious illnesses, die... or want to save money for long-term goals in the future such as: retirement, business, education for children... then Social Insurance is a suitable choice.
In case you have participated in health insurance but want to be more comprehensively protected with health care benefits and reduce annual medical expenses for common risks such as illness, disease, dental... as well as be able to flexibly choose medical facilities for treatment, you should participate in additional BHSK.
The cost of participating in BHSK depends on the insurance package you choose. A BHSK product often has many insurance programs, each program will have different fees and protection scope.
Currently, the BHSK market is quite diverse with many products with affordable costs and rich benefits. For example, the health insurance product " Live healthy every day" also allows customers to choose additional benefits such as dental, maternity, and outpatient care to maximize costs.
Before officially signing an insurance contract, you need to carefully understand the benefits of the product, exclusion terms, regulations on fee payment, waiting time, etc. In addition, you should provide accurate and honest information about your health condition. The insurance company may refuse to pay benefits in the future if it discovers that you have not fully and dishonestly declared your health status.
In general, social insurance or unemployment insurance are both remote backup methods for unexpected events in life. Therefore, if conditions are favorable, you should participate as soon as possible, when you are young and healthy so as not to be excluded from underlying diseases, not to receive increased fees and to be paid when you have the disease later.
In case you have had previous health insurance, you need to check whether your health insurance contract already has an additional BHSK product attached, if so, it will fully meet your protection needs.
Wishing you the right choice!
Pham Thi Thanh Tra - Manulife Insurance Product Development Expert
