Preventive Health Check-Up - Importance, Benefits & Deductions

A preventive health check up is defined as a medical test or multiple medical tests conducted with the objective of looking for the early signs of a disease or an illness. Through timely preventive health check ups you can effectively detect diseases early on, giving you a head start when it comes to treating them medically. 

 

By detecting early symptoms and risk factors through such checkups, you can even prevent the occurrence of diseases. This is possible through timely intervention and lifestyle changes. Many health insurance plans today are designed to cover the cost of preventive health check ups.  

Benefits of Preventive Health Check-Ups

Preventive health check-ups come with numerous benefits that can significantly improve your quality of life. Here are some features you should be aware of while buying a preventive care health check-up package:

• Health Evaluation

A preventive health check-up is a comprehensive evaluation of the likelihood of a disease or illness. Such medical check-ups are reliable, up-to-date and highly essential in understanding your health.

• Early Detection of Illnesses

Health check-up helps with the early detection of possibly life-threatening health issues, ensuring greater chances of getting treatment at an early stage.

• Timely Check-ups

Preventive care check-ups facilitate periodic monitoring of current health problems and minimise the risk of complications. Moreover, it encourages you to actively participate in maintaining your own health.

• Lower Medical Expense

Overall healthcare expenditure is kept at a minimum by reducing the need for expensive or emergency medical treatments.

• Encourages Improvement of Health

If the recommended precautions and lifestyle changes are taken into account, health check-ups can increase longevity and the quality of your life!

• Tax Benefits

You can avail tax benefits of up to ₹5,000 per financial year towards preventive health check-ups under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

Types of Preventive Health Check-Up

• Full Body Health Check-up

Such a preventive health check-up includes the medical evaluation of your entire body. It may involve a series of individual tests like liver function test, kidney function test, blood sugar test, thyroid test, etc.

• Heart Check-up

This preventive health check-up includes examinations and tests to check for a healthy heart. It will include ECG, lipid profile test, chest X-ray, etc. for a detailed medical screening for any heart-related issues.

• Diabetes Check-up

As you may already know, a diabetes health check-up shall involve medical tests to check for diabetes. These tests include fasting blood sugar level test, HbA1c test, glucose tolerance test, etc.

• Health Check-ups for Children

A preventive health check-up for a child involves the evaluation of the physical development and health of the child. There may be numerous tests conducted such as an eye examination, hearing test, etc.

• Health Check-up for Women

The health check-up conducted for women will comprise of various tests to understand the general health of the person along with gynaecological problems. Some examples of medical tests are pap smear tests, cervix cancer and breast cancer screening, pelvic exam, etc.

Who Should opt for Preventive Health Check-Up?

Most individuals regardless of age should opt for a full-body health check-up at least once a year. Apart from old age-related ailments, many illnesses affect people at a younger or adult stage, making check-ups a must. Although preventive health check-ups are required by everyone to be up to date regarding their health, let’s look at some key categories of people who should opt for it:

 

• Individuals above the age of 30 years

• Senior citizens

• People with diabetes

• Individuals at risk of hypertension or cardiovascular disease

• Obese individuals

• People with a family medical history

List of Tests under Preventive Health Check-up

Here is a list of tests that are typically conducted as part of a preventive health check-up:

Major Preventive Medical Tests to Consider for Different Age Groups

Here is the list of major preventive health check-ups, categorised based on different age groups:  

Many times certain major ailments do not show any symptoms until it's too late. Treating lifestyle or critical illnesses in later stages not only affects you emotionally but also impacts your finances. With the help of preventive health check-ups, you can ensure timely diagnosis of such diseases and get the required medical therapy to recover from the ailment.

 

Regular check-ups promote early detection of various cancers, lifestyle diseases, diabetes, heart disease, etc. while being covered under your health plan! Furthermore, the health check-ups can detect the disorders that have a past history in your family or any complications arising out of existing illnesses.

Tax Deduction under Section 80D

Under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act, 1961, you can avail a preventive health check-up deduction of ₹5,000. Let’s understand the preventive health check-up tax deductions that you can claim for your spouse, parents and dependents:

Before getting a preventive care health check-up, here are some key points to consider:

 

• Make sure to confirm if the health check-up requires you to fast, as many tests need a fasting period of at least 10 hours.

• In case you have a CT scan, an X-ray or other similar scans, avoid wearing metallic accessories for the imaging tests.

• Provide accurate information regarding the current medications you are on or previous surgeries you have undergone to help understand your medical history.

• Wear comfortable clothing for preventive health check-ups for ease in moving around.

• Inform your doctor of any pacemakers, dentures, etc. that you may have.

List of Preventive Healthcare Packages

Below is a list of various preventive healthcare packages available in India, specific to gender, age, illnesses, etc. You can easily pick one to suit your medical care requirements.

• Basic Preventive Healthcare Package

Without focusing on a specific ailment, or the age and gender of the individual, this type of healthcare package does a basic check-up to detect any anomaly.

• Diabetes Package

Such a package helps diabetic patients keep a tab of their blood sugar levels and check for any issues with other vital organs.

• Cancer Package

This healthcare package screens the patient for various cancers and helps with future risk assessment. The tests shall include a pap smear, blood tests, and other related examinations.

• Cardiac Package

The risk of cardiovascular diseases is evaluated in such a package including strokes and heart attacks. The cardiac package helps take timely measures to avoid any cardiovascular diseases in the future.

• Dental Package

Dental health of an individual is assessed under this package where the chances of cavities, plaque, tooth decay, etc. are evaluated.

• Paediatric Package

Various medical risks faced by children below 13 years of age are checked under the paediatric package.

• Fertility Package

Fertility-related health check-ups are completed under such packages for couples struggling to conceive, involving various tests and examinations.

• Family Healthcare Package

You can get your family’s health assessed under the family healthcare package to steer clear of any risks. This will involve full-body check-ups, eye exams, dental tests, etc.

• Healthcare Package for Women

Such a preventive health check-up helps detect life-threatening conditions or other medical risks faced by women.

Conclusion

Often, signs and symptoms of serious diseases don’t show up until it is too late, and this can leave a huge dent in your savings due to medical expenses. By opting for a preventive health check-up, you are giving the future self a better chance at beating lifestyle diseases and living a long healthy life. You can further financially secure yourself by getting a health insurance plan. Head over to Bajaj Markets to browse through the insurance offerings by leading insurance companies and get one that suits your needs.

Health Insurance Plans Available at Bajaj Markets