Insurance is only for earning people - This is a common misconception amongst the general public, who feel insurance is just a replacement for the lost income. This has developed into a lack of interest in insuring female lives who are non-earning members of a family. This mindset is fast changing though. There is increased awareness in women-specific insurance products that can ensure financial stability for women and men are more inclined these days in insuring the lives of the women folk at home too. 

Why Should Women Think About Getting An Insurance In Their Name?

Women are no longer bound to their kitchens. They have spread their wings and have conquered the corporate world. Women sit at the top of some of the leading corporate companies in the world. This has opened up a new sector in insurance creating ‘Insurance Plans Specifically Designed For Women’. Insurance companies have tried to include at least one woman-centric plan in their products. There are women specific products in life insurance, term insurance, health insurance, ULIP plans, money back plans and so on. 

Insurance serves as an avenue of investment: Money back plans act as an effective investment option for women. With the right policy terms, women can invest in these plans to accumulate wealth over the long term. 

Protection through life insurance for single women & single mothers: More and more women choose to stay single and take care of their families. Life insurance policies gives protection to family members of single women or single mothers in case of any unforeseen eventualities. 

Health insurance to meet inflating medical costs: Recent years have seen a rise in the number of critical illnesses faced by women of all ages. With inflating medical costs, a comprehensive health insurance is necessary to meet medical emergencies. 

Marriage plans to have a dream wedding: With Destination Weddings, Theme Weddings and other fancy wedding themes in play, women would like to save money for their dream wedding. There are insurance plans that help one save towards wedding expenses. 

Retirement Planning: Insurance plans allow you to build a considerable retirement corpus during your prime earning years. After all, who knows how to have fun better than a woman?

Tax benefits: The premium paid towards life insurance policies up to the maximum limit of Rs. 1,50,000 is eligible for tax deduction and deductions are applicable if the amount of premium paid in a financial year is 20% of the sum assured amount of the policy

Top 5 Insurance Plans Designed Specifically For Women

  1. SBI Life – Smart Women Advantage – Under a single, women-centric plan, this plan offers the triple benefits of life cover, savings, and Critical Illness (CI) cover. It offers the following benefits: 

  • Life cover to protect your family in case of your death

  • Comprehensive cover to cater to your long term savings needs

  • Options to include coverage against pregnancy-related complications and childbirth-related abnormalities 

  • Critical Illness Benefit upon first instance of any critical illness detection

  • Sum assured up to Rs.10 lakhs with a policy term of up to 15 years

  1. HDFC Life Smart Woman Plan - HDFC Life's Smart Woman Plan is a Unit Linked Insurance Plan that is exclusively designed to meet women's needs.  ULIP is a combination of insurance and investment. A policyholder can pay a premium monthly or annually. A small amount of the premium goes to secure life insurance while rest of the money is invested just like a mutual fund does. The HDFC Life Smart Woman Plan provides sufficient incentives to ensure that during the various stages of your life you are financially secure. There are three options that one can choose from in this policy–Classic, Premier, and Elite. All versions of this plan provide the policy purchaser with comprehensive coverage.

  • The plan offers sum assured amounts of up to 40 times the annualised premium

  • Age eligibility for the woman to be insured is between 18 years and 45 years at the time of purchasing the policy

  • The minimum maturity age for policyholders is 28 years and the maximum is 60 years

  • Policy comes with a policy tenure of 10 years or 15 years

  • The policyholder can choose between 4 funds to invest in based on their risk appetite

  1. Shriram Life New Shri Vivah Plan - A plan that allows you to invest towards your dream wedding. It offers a double life cover benefit along with regular income apart from maturity benefits. 

  • Maturity benefits of sum assured along with any Reversionary bonus and Terminal bonus 

    • Reversionary bonus is the sum added to the amount of an insurance policy payable at the maturation of the policy or the death of the person insured.

    • Terminal Bonus is a one-time bonus that the insurer may declare for policyholders who have continued the policy till its original term.

  • Entry age as low as 18 years and maturity age of up to 70 years

  • Comes with flexible premium payment terms and policy terms

  • Optional riders to cover Critical Illness, Accidental Death & Additional Life Cover

  1. LICs Aadhaar Shila - This plan provides a combination of savings and protection for women. This plan provides financial support to the family in the event of unfortunate death of the policyholder any time before maturity date and a lump sum at maturity upon the policyholder's surviving till maturity. 

  • Death benefits include sum assured at death plus loyalty additions

  • Maturity benefits of sum assured plus loyalty additions

  • Option to add Accidental Death Benefit rider

  • Maximum sum assured of up to Rs.3 lakhs

  • Comes with flexible premium payment terms and policy terms

  1. TATA AIG Wellsurance Women Plan - This is a health insurance plan designed specifically for women. This covers critical illnesses and provides superior benefits towards cashless hospitalization and recuperation benefits. 

  • Lump sum benefit upon diagnosis of any specified critical illness

  • Daily in-hospital benefit for hospitalization due to an accident or any illness

  • A lump sum benefit while you are recovering at home after discharge from the hospital

  • Takes care of ambulance charges and ICU charges

  • Covers Cosmetic Reconstructive Surgery expenses for the purpose of restoring/improving bodily function or correcting significant deformity resulting from accidental injury

  • Value added services like free health line, health portal, health query, discounted services for the health and wellness and e-news letter to keep you updated with the latest information on healthcare

End Note: The above 5 policies are just a few from a bunch of plans specifically designed for women. One has to understand the significance of getting insurance for the women in your life. Insurance should not only be seen as an income replacement tool rather be seen as an investment option for women. This article aims at highlighting the fact that health insurance is not the only product that should cover the women in your family. Insurance policies can be a way of empowering women to pursue their dreams and aspirations along with providing them with a secure future. It has helped millions of single women and mothers to provide the same security to their dependants.