Portfolio must offer mix of growth and liquidity, avoid lock-ins

As healthcare costs continue torise, building a dedicated health care fund has become an essential financial goal.

- SARBAJEET K SEN

While adequate health insurance is indispensable, a separate corpus can offer critical support during emergencies.

Health insurance policies often exclude several expenses. Sometimes claims get rejected. Standoffs between hospitals and insurers sometimes lead to cashless facility not being available.

“Having a separate healthcare corpus is extremely important even for those already covered by health insurance. While insurance policies cover hospitalisation and certain defined treatments, they don’t account for many out-of-pocket expenses such as diagnostics, medicines, physiotherapy, home care, or alternative therapies. Moreover, co-pays, sub-limits, waiting periods, and exclusions can result in only partial claim settlements,” says Vishal Dhawan, founder & chief executive officer (CEO), Plan Ahead Wealth Advisors.

“A healthcare corpus is invaluable if your policy lapses, you lose job-linked coverage, or face rising premiums in later years. It provides flexibility to cover medical costs, as well as expenses for preventive care or wellness programmes that insurance may not reimburse,” says Alekh Yadav, head of investment products, Sanctum Wealth.

Determining corpus size