Many parents yearn for sending their children abroad so that they can pursue a career of their choice in any respective field. However, while choosing to send their children abroad, one important factor that must be kept in mind is having a specific health insurance plan for your child in place. In fact, many universities have mandatory rules for ensuring that every student has a compulsory health insurance plan for coverage. In such cases, where the student is mandated to be under the coverage of a health insurance plan, it is very essential that you choose carefully, as there is an additional option of seeking health insurance from abroad. Therefore, the first option that you, as a responsible parent, have to consider is whether to seek foreign insurance or domestic health insurance.

When it comes to choosing between these two options, one important and core factor that goes in favor of domestic insurance is the cost of the plan. The payable premium rates vary by a huge margin between these two options and hence, it is very essential that you consider the costing factor carefully before taking a step. The domestic health insurance offers extensive coverage and the premium rates are extremely cheap when viewed in comparison with what foreign insurance has to offer. Seeking a foreign insurance is an extremely costly affair that requires you to pay hefty amounts as contribution towards the policy. Therefore, it is better to choose a domestic health insurance plan for your child before sending her/him abroad for studies.

There is an additional factor of carefully analyzing and evaluating the coverage features in the plan. In simple terms, if your child is going to study in a university where it is mandatory for students to have the local insurance cover, you can choose to opt for the local primary base healthcare cover and for additional features or rider option like coverage against critical illnesses, pre and post-hospitalization benefits, ambulance, nursing, lodging facilities and any additional requirements, you can opt for the domestic plan options that offer these rider-option. This allows you to have a balanced insurance portfolio and helps you enjoy the benefits of both the primary as well as additional benefits of the plans at reduced costs.

Before opting to choose a particular policy, you must keep in mind the scope of coverage that is being offered by the insurance provider. This has to include additional benefits like waiver of tuition fee in case of any long-term absence due to medical reasons, travel expenses incurred in case of any travel requirements or family-visits during any illness, etc.

HDFC Life offers various healthcare plans that seek to secure your finances and allow you to retain your saving-corpus during any health-related contingency. For details, click on the mentioned link: https://www.hdfclife.com/health-insurance-plans.

Some features of health insurance plans include:
1. Comprehensive critical illness cover – as many as 30 illnesses in certain plans
2. Discount on premium if sum assured exceeds a particular limit like Rs 10 lakhs for instance
3. Flexibility to reduce premium after a specified period
4. Flexibility to reduce sum assured after a specified period
5. Flexibility to reduce policy term after a specified period

Health insurance premium provide tax exemption under section 80D of Income Tax Act 1961, this being one of the few meeting points between health insurance and mediclaim

Evidently health insurance plans are far superior to mediclaim in terms of breadth of diseases and illnesses covered, quantum of sum assured and flexibility. While mediclaim may prove adequate up to a point, it is health insurance that can be expected to bail you out from a serious (read expensive) medical condition.

For more details you can visit : https://www.hdfclife.com/insurance-knowledge-centre/secure-your-health/health-insurance-for-students-who-study-abroad