How to select the right health insurance plan for you and your family.

Are you planning to purchase a good health insurance plan for your family but have little information on where to begin and how to about this entire thing? This post is aimed at enabling you to identify the right health insurance policy. Given the sheer number of policies available in the market and thousands of varying articles available on this topic, it is easy to get confused and feel lost. To avoid any such confusion we are going to adopt a very simple, easy to understand approach for answering all your queries on this topic.

Most important point: Many people keep on postponing their decision of purchasing a health insurance plan in search of a dream plan. Let me tell you, you are never going to find any such dream plan because it does not exist in reality. There is always going to be a trade off between one benefit and the other. Hence, as an aware buyer the best we can do is build a good understanding of what are requirements are and which plan caters to our needs in the best possible way. Once you have identified the right plan for you, do not waste any further time. The earlier you decide to purchase your health insurance cover, the better it is.

Q 1. Whether to go for an individual health insurance or family plan?

There is no fixed rule as to whether once should select an individual health insurance plan or a family floater plan. It totally depends on the composition of your family and the heath status and age of all the individuals. If you are a nuclear family comprising of young adults and small children with no history of chronic ailments, you can go ahead with a family floater plan but if you stay in a joint family and have parents above the age of 50 it is generally advisable that you buy two separate policies - one for your parents and the other one for your spouse, children and yourself. Generally, one shouldn’t include a “high risk member" i.e. a member with known major health issues, in a family floater policy, as he/she is likely to file frequent claims, year-after-year, leaving other members without any cover.

Q 2.  Key Terms and Conditions of health insurance policies that we should know as buyers.

Following are a few important things that you should check before purchasing a health insurance policy:

• Cover Amount - What might look like a sufficient cover amount today may not be sufficient for your requirements tomorrow given the speed at which the price of medical services is rising year-on-year. Hence, you must select your health insurance cover keeping in mid the ever increasing prices of everything.

• Room Rent Limit - This one single clause can have a major impact on the claims that you will be able to file against your health expenses. Generally, buyers tend to think that a Rs. 10 lacs insurance cover translated into the ability of being able to claim up to Rs. 10 lacs against your medical expenses in a single year. While this is true, the amount of expenses you can claim at any single instance is going to be in proportion to you room rent limit. As a simple example if your room rent limit is Rs. 6,000/- and you opt for a room that is priced at Rs. 10,000/- you are essentially eligible to claim only 60% (Rs. 6000/- is 60 percent of Rs. 10,000/-) of your overall medical expenses including the amount paid against surgery etc. Hence, you should generally try and opt for a no limit policy or a policy that allows you to opt private rooms with good room rent limit.

• Copay clause - This again is an important clause. A copay clause of 20 % essentially means that 20 percent of the overall medical expenses will be borne by the buyer and the rest 80% will be borne by the insurance company. There is nothing good or bad about this clause. As would be easy to infer, an insurance plan with copay clause is going to have a lesser premium than an insurance plan without copay clause, keeping all other elements same. So it is your decision as an individual what suits your need and preferences. However, if the premium is not substantially different, we would advise you to opt for a policy without any copay.

• Cover for pre-existing diseases - Pre-existing diseases include various health conditions including the ones diagnosed by a doctor, any major hospitalization in the past and the ailments for which one is taking medication. Such ailments are covered after certain time duration. Different policies have different clauses when it comes to the coverage of pre-existing diseases. You would seldom come across policies that cover pre-existing diseases from the very start. Most insurance companies provide coverage for existing diseases only after 3 to 4 years your having purchased the policy. The lower the waiting periods, the better.

• Restore benefits - Some plans reinstate your coverage in case you exhaust your cover in a policy year. It is a nice to have feature especially for those buyers who are opting for a family floater policy. You must take this into consideration while deciding which health insurance plan to opt for.

The above are some of the key elements that one should keep in mind while deciding which health policy to opt for. For easy comparisons of various policies in the market you can look at websites like PolicyBazaar or Coverfox.

Review: MTS MBlaze Ultra WiFi. Strictly not recommended, Poor speed

Are you looking to purchase a good Data Card with high internet speed at great prices? If yes, then you must read this article before you take the final decision and go ahead with the final purchase.

If you have already searched for some of the available options in the market, you must have come across cheesy advertising and big claims from the telecom and data services provider MTS.

I purchased the MTS MBLAZE Ultra WiFi device a few months back. The top cover the devices has 3GPLUS* along with Upto 9.8 Mbps written in a big bold fonts. The pack that was available was also looked like a great offer as I was supposed to pay INR 999 + taxes for a 40GB unlimited plan. A 40GB unlimited plan means that you will have high speed data access until 40 GB of data consumption, post which the speed will drop to 256Kbps.

However, it has been quite a few months that I have been using this device but the speed has never exceeded 900 Kbps. On an average the speed remains anywhere between 400 Kbps to 500 Kbps. I have been using this device in Gurgaon where most of the telecom companies have good coverage but the speed on MTS device has remained extremely poor. All the claims made by MTS are baseless and I highly recommend all the consumers to not purchase MTS data cards. 

Below is a screenshot of speed test taken recently to give you a proof of the poor service of MTS.

As you can see in this image, the speed is only 0.25 Mbps as against the claims of 9.8 Mbps etc. Hence, please do not get trapped in the enticing marketing messaging by MTS and beware of their fake claims.

CBSE 12th class results today, 25th May 2015, Online, IVRS and SMS

Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has announced that they will be releasing the results of Class XII board examinations today i.e. May 25th, 2015. The exams for the students of Class 12th got over in March 2015 and since then the students who appeared for Class 12th examinations have been eagerly waiting for their results to be released. Well finally the day has arrived ans CBSE is all set to announce the results today.

If you too have been waiting for your results, please follow this link to check your exam results:

•  http://cbseresults.nic.in/
•  www.results.nic.in

The results will also be available through SMS and Interactive voice response system (IVRS). The results will also be available on Jagranjosh website.

Accessing the results on SMS and IVRS

• Results can be accessed through Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) by dialling 24300699 (Delhi), 011-24300699 (other parts of the country). 
• MTNL subscribers can call 28127030 (Delhi) and 011-28127030 (other parts). 

To know your result through SMS BSNL subscribers are required to send a SMS as following:

• CBSE<space><Roll No.> and send it to 57766 (BSNL)

All the best to all the students!

Withdrawal or encashment of NSC from a different city

Were you working in Bangalore, Hyderabad or Pune earlier and have now shifted to Delhi-NCR and want to en-cash/withdraw some of the National Savings Certificates (NSCs) that you had bought in the past. Many of the salaried employees purchase NSCs for the saving tax or for earning interest on their savings in the city they are currently working in. And as the time passes they shift their location in pursuit of better opportunities or to be in a city which is nearer to their hometown. Often leading to a situation where you want to redeem your matured NSC in the city that you are currently based in but are not aware how to do it.

If this is a problem that you too are facing, you have come to the right blog. It is not always possible or practical to visit the earlier city just your encash your National Savings Certificates because of various reasons. Hence, the best solution would be to get your NSC redeemed in the city you are currently based. For doing that, you will need to follow one of the two approaches depending on whether the post office from which your purchased your NSC at and the post office at which you are planning to encash it are both internet enabled and connected through CBS (Core Banking Solution) network. Please note the difference. It isn't just a matter of internet connectivity. The branches should be connected through CBS network.

a) When both the branches are connected through CBS network and are internet enabled

In this case, make sure to give a call to the post office you had purchased the NSC from and ask them for the SOL ID. Once you have the SOL ID you can just carry your NSC along with some ID proofs that are sufficient to confirm that you are the holder of the NSC and submit it to the concerned officer in the post office. The officer would verify the details using internet and CBS network that connects the two concerned post offices. Upon successful verification your money will be given to you then and there. Though it is not necessary to carry along the SOL ID but doing so saves a lot of time.

b) When one of the branches especially the one where you purchased the NSC is not connected with CBS network.

In this case, you can submit a photocopy of your NSC to the concerned officer along with an application and an NSC transfer form and an identity proof. You are not required to submit your original NSC for this purpose. The post-office officials will send a request to the source post-office for initiating the transfer. This process may take anywhere between one to three months approximately. Upon successful transfer you would be able to redeem your NSC at the local post office from where you initiated this request.

As, per the information available with us, you can submit the request for transfer from the head post-office e.g. if you stay in Gurgaon you can initiate the transfer from the branch located in Sadar Bazaar i.e. the head branch for Gurgaon. You will need to submit the transfer request at a branch office. For cities, where there is only one post office this clause may not be applicable.

To ensure that you are able to encash your money on the day of maturity it is advisable that you initiate the transfer process 3-4 months in advance. However, you can avoid doing that if you do not have urgency as you continue to earn a certain level of interest even after maturity.

Most important lesson

- Always try and purchase your NSC from a CBS connected and internet enabled post office so that it is easier to redeem it in a different city. Also, keep a note of the SOL ID of the post office you are purchasing the NSC from.

Activate inoperative EPF accounts and claim your Employee Provident Fund Money

Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), India has launched an initiative to help EPF members with inoperative accounts claim their money and locate their account details. An EPF account is termed as inoperative if there is no contribution made to the account for 36 continuous months. An inoperative account doesn't earn any interest hence it makes sense to either withdraw that hard earned money of yours or to transfer it to the EPF account opened at your current organization.

Many of us tend to not do this because of the tedious documentation procedure associated with such tasks. However, not with the launch of online facility it has become very easy to get your money back from an inoperative account. The government is even running awareness campaigns around it and today's Economic Times has a quarter page print ad to inform people about this.

Interested individuals can easily locate the details of their inoperative accounts by logging at www.epfindia.gov.in. The online helpdesk will trace the concerned inoperative account and help you to either transfer it your current P.F. account or withdraw that amount.

Once you have submitted your details at the above mentioned portal, a reference ID is created that can be used to track the status of your application. However, as a prerequisite, all applicants are required to get their UAN activated before applying for settlement of their PF Accounts. The UAN activation can be done at following URL: uanmembers.epfoservices.in

Fig: Snapshot Inoperative EPF Claim Helpdesk as on 06 May 2015

On starting the process you are asked to submit the problem description in a textbox. Please mention that your PF account has become inoperative and you want to claim your money back and get it transferred / withdrawn as per your individual preference. On clicking next, you are a shown a form in which you are required to submit various details related to the account that you are trying to locate. Please fill the form and click next. On clicking next a reference ID will be generated and you will be sent a PIN to the mobile number that you have submitted while filling the form. This reference ID and mobile number can be used to Login subsequently and track your application status. You will also get an acknowledgement mail on the shared email ID as a confirmation towards successful submission of your request.

Now take prior appointments for Aadhar Card enrollment - UIDAI

Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has on a trial basis started the option of taking prior appointments for Aadhar Card enrollment. The service has been launched in a few selected cities at this moment.

Applicants can book an appointment by sharing few basic details such as Name, Email, Mobile No. and the No. of persons. One can easily select the preferred center of enrollment by using the available dropdowns for selecting their State, District/City, Locality and finally the Enrollment Center.

Generally the forms for many government services tend to be very cumbersome but this one is very simple and convenient. After entering your details and having selected the preferred center for enrolment you can select the preferred Date and Time of Enrollment. However, you will be able to select a particular timeslot only if there are any vacant slots available at that time.

The timeslots are available from 10:00 AM in the morning until 6:00 PM in the evening. Following is a snapshot of the form taken from the UIDAI Online Appointment system:

Snapshot: Aadhar Card Online Appointment System as taken from official website on 07th April 2015

We tried to select a slot for Delhi and Gurgaon but mostly came across Available Slots: 0 status. We think it is because the slots for Aadhar Card appointment must be getting booked far ahead in time.

Please do let us know if you are able to book an appointment using this system successfully. Do visit this blog/bookmark it for more information about such services.

GOSF 2014: Analyzing Great Online Shopping Festival as it happens - Part 2

The hoopla is over.
The ho-halla is here to stay!!

Analyzing GOSF 2014: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly! 

The Good: There are a lot of good things about this year's GOSF. Bigger than ever, this year's GOSF - the three day online shopping extravaganza that ran from 10th Dec to 12th Dec saw higher participation than ever both from brands and from consumers. In the third edition, GOSF started in 2012, it involved 450 online partners from segments as diverse as kitchen and groceries to automobiles and real estate. Numerous marketing campaigns not only during the actual festival days but also in run-up to the event were launched by several brands to attract consumers' attention. 

Aditya Birla Money’s finance management company MyUniverse was the lead sponsor for the event with 14 brand partners namely Asian Paints, Jet Airways, Kindle, Micromax, HP, Ask Me, CraftsVilla, Cox & Kings, Goibibo, Big Bazaar, KOOVs, Trendin, Lakme and Lenovo each of whom delighted one consumer each day (selected in most cases through a Twitter Follow and Hash Tag campaign) with 14 minutes of free shopping worth Rs. 2.5 lacs from Nov 25 to December 8th.
Their was an exclusive launch corner dedicated for new product launches during the three day festival. Some of the notable product launches included Infinity i.e. Airtel Digital TV on Demand WiFi Dongle, Google Chromecast, Motorola Nexus 6, Lenovo Yoga Tablet and Auxus Rist.

Further, their was a separate section named 299 Corner targeting first time buyers and price sensitive consumers which showcased products priced at Rs. 299/- or less with free shipping and cash on delivery options in most cases.


Did the hoopla had any impact?

Well the hoopla was definitely much more than just a hoopla. Given the growing number of internet users in India and the e-commerce boom there is definitely room for such an event. All in all, it was a good line-up of products and offers with consumer products ranging a few hundreds to costly real estate offerings worth lacs of rupees from companies like Purvankara and Tata Housing. Going by the reports the sales exceeded the wildest expectations with Tata Housing seeing 10000 flats being booked on the first day of GOSF. Similar was the experience of leading construction company Purvankara which reported more than 5000 inquiries and 507 bookings during the 3-day period. Infact the share price of the company saw an uptrend after the news got spread in the market.

Another report from mobile wallet MobiKwik suggests that they encountered more than 15000 transactions by noon on the first day of sales with rising number of transactions on subsequent days.

Any detailed report regarding the traffic during the festival is yet to be published by Google or by third-party sources. However the number of internet users in India is rising fast. The number of mobile internet users is also increasing at a fast pace. According to a recent report by IAMAI, mobile internet users are growing at a steady rate, with 159 million mobile internet users in October, estimated to reach 173 million by the end of December 2014. No. of online shoppers alone is expected to touch 100 million mark by 2016, as per several estimates. If these figures are anything to go by, India as a country has huge potential for those interested in monetizing opportunities internet space.

The article would be incomplete if I do not mention that India's most popular online shopping portal Flipkart chose to not participate in GOSF 2014. Instead the company ran its own version of Bip App Shopping Days - a special discount festival that ran between Dec, 8th - Dec, 12th 2014. The reason quoted by unidentified sources is that Flipkart had made plans of app based promotions well in advance and hence didn't want to have two major promotional plans running in advance. However, in my opinion there may be two reasons behind this decision:

a) It would be safe to assume that majority of people participating in GOSF, at the end of the day, are regular online shoppers who are well aware of Flipkart. Hence from the awareness and top of the mind recall perspective Flipkart wouldn't have gained any substantial result from participating in GOSF especially in the light of the fact that they anyway have good marketing budgets and keep doing several campaigns all round the year

b) Flipkart's Big Billion Day sale, however big a failure you might call it, did give Flipkart huge insights into the online shopping behaviour of Indian consumers. Having participated twice in the earlier versions of GOSF, Flipkart anyway has a good amount of data and might not see GOSF as a must attend event

The Bad: Logistics! They top the chart of complaints. I myself purchased a couple of items from sites as diverse as established big players to new entrants, general shopping sites to niche ones but for almost 15 days the status for my orders said - No information. The order had been placed. The order was successful. But there wasn't any information on whether the item has been shipped or not and the expected delivery dates. Infact from one of the sites I got an email saying I had the option of getting a refund as there was expected a further delay of around 2 or more weeks - making it a month from the date of purchase. Many of my friends and colleagues had similar stories to tell.

Impulse purchases are best enjoyed when you can start using the purchased item as soon as possible because impulse purchases are generally made for low risk items for which people would rather pay a slightly higher amount then wait for an unidentified time period.

Now this is a big problem. You roll out exciting offers in the market, invite customers to go all out and do crazy shopping for 72 hours - only to keep them waiting for crazy hours of unidentified number! While some may say it doesn't matter as the purchase has been made and nobody wants to take that extra effort of cancelling an offer but that is just not true. There is a high chance of people not participating with such enthusiasm in the next edition of GOSF after having faced such issues. Also, for the sites who are using GOSF as a launch platform it might ultimately cause them to generate an unfavorable image in the mind of their initial set of consumers.

Hence if you are planning to participate in the next edition of GOSF, please make sure you have done enough planning to take care of the post purchase phases as well. Cause at the end, the overall shopping is experience is what will matter the most!