Should a government employee buy a personal health cover?

I am a central government employee and I have a CGHS policy for medical purpose. It requires me to pay only one per cent of my salary irrespective of the benefits from departmental hospitals. Do I still need to buy a health insurance plan separately from a private insurer? I am now 45.
- Lakshmi Kant

It depends. You must try out your CGHS facility - which gets you two things - critical illness and hospitalisation expenses in many good hospitals. But it depends on the city you live in, as there are different kinds of CGHS enablement. It is very good in Delhi probably because many central government employees are concentrated here. So, the enablement of facilities from CGHS is very meaningful. However, it may not be in smaller cities where the density of retired or non-retired central government employees may be less. So, you should evaluate it yourself.

Nevertheless, having small supplementary health insurance will be helpful, as in the case of a certain emergency, having a small coverage of Rs two-three lakh will take care of the hospitalisation and other expenses. But it entirely depends on your own estimation of your or your dependents' health conditions. A family floater of Rs five lakh, worth a small premium, may be a reasonable umbrella.

This article was originally published on August 22, 2019.