Being in the health insurance industry for over a decade now, it has become a passion of sorts for me to track the changes that the industry goes through and to observe how we’re growing and maturing as an industry, at par with the global insurance practices.
So when recently, someone asked me a question about portability of policies, I had a lot to talk about, since IRDA has done a lot towards this exact cause and not many understand or know the benefits and riders alike! I thought it would be best to write about it for the benefit of a lot of you who may have similar doubts and need clarity.
With health insurance portability guidelines introduced by IRDA a few years back, the process to port coverage from one policy to another without losing on the continuity benefits is very clear and straightforward for individuals. But specifically when one can buy an individual health insurance policy and later once he/she gets married can continue the coverage under a family floater health insurance under the same context of portability. Almost all individual plans have a family floater option that one can move to at the time of renewing that policy. However, one must apply well in advance to ensure the process of portability is smooth and hassle-free.
In today’s day and age, for a young, healthy individual under 35 years a cover of at least Rupees 5 lakh is a must. When one is considering moving from an individual to a family policy and add members to his/her policy, make sure you increase the coverage by about 50-75% for each new member. The waiting periods and exclusions applied for you at the time of your shift will continue to apply. For the new member, cooling off and waiting periods will apply, as they should with a new policyholder.
However, problem may arise if there are frequent claims or claims for chronic diseases by a policyholder or a declaration of a new health condition for either of the members of the policy. Then the insurance company may not accept the request for increase in the sum insured. It may even reject the request for a new member altogether if they come with a history of chronic and longstanding illnesses, just like they can for any new policyholder.
If your current insurance company does not have the sum insured cover you want, you can also port into a family policy in another Health insurance company. In such cases, as per portability guidelines, you will have to apply for portability at least 45 days in advance. A good tip to keep in mind would be to not merge individual family members who have pre-existing diseases/conditions. It is better to have a separate cover for such individuals, as adding them to a family floater plan will drive up the premium for everybody else and would be a very inefficient cost wise. There’s also the chance that they may end up using the coverage amount a lot more, leaving the others without a cover during the year.
For those wishing to move from a family plan to individual plans, that’s also definitely possible. In such cases the sum insurance ported to the individual plan can be equal to the family plan. You can even opt for a lower sum insured, when moving. However, since IRDA is not clear about these cases, as they are rare, some insurance companies may have their own guidelines that you’ll have to read through before going ahead with the same.
Hope the above clarifies most of the common doubts and concerns. If you wish to know more, feel free to comment on this article and I’d be happy to answer your queries!
Tags : Health insurance, medical insurance plans, medical insurance policy
Sourcefrom: http://www.moneycontrol.com/master_your_money/stocks_news_consumption.php?autono=3085921
So when recently, someone asked me a question about portability of policies, I had a lot to talk about, since IRDA has done a lot towards this exact cause and not many understand or know the benefits and riders alike! I thought it would be best to write about it for the benefit of a lot of you who may have similar doubts and need clarity.
With health insurance portability guidelines introduced by IRDA a few years back, the process to port coverage from one policy to another without losing on the continuity benefits is very clear and straightforward for individuals. But specifically when one can buy an individual health insurance policy and later once he/she gets married can continue the coverage under a family floater health insurance under the same context of portability. Almost all individual plans have a family floater option that one can move to at the time of renewing that policy. However, one must apply well in advance to ensure the process of portability is smooth and hassle-free.
In today’s day and age, for a young, healthy individual under 35 years a cover of at least Rupees 5 lakh is a must. When one is considering moving from an individual to a family policy and add members to his/her policy, make sure you increase the coverage by about 50-75% for each new member. The waiting periods and exclusions applied for you at the time of your shift will continue to apply. For the new member, cooling off and waiting periods will apply, as they should with a new policyholder.
However, problem may arise if there are frequent claims or claims for chronic diseases by a policyholder or a declaration of a new health condition for either of the members of the policy. Then the insurance company may not accept the request for increase in the sum insured. It may even reject the request for a new member altogether if they come with a history of chronic and longstanding illnesses, just like they can for any new policyholder.
If your current insurance company does not have the sum insured cover you want, you can also port into a family policy in another Health insurance company. In such cases, as per portability guidelines, you will have to apply for portability at least 45 days in advance. A good tip to keep in mind would be to not merge individual family members who have pre-existing diseases/conditions. It is better to have a separate cover for such individuals, as adding them to a family floater plan will drive up the premium for everybody else and would be a very inefficient cost wise. There’s also the chance that they may end up using the coverage amount a lot more, leaving the others without a cover during the year.
For those wishing to move from a family plan to individual plans, that’s also definitely possible. In such cases the sum insurance ported to the individual plan can be equal to the family plan. You can even opt for a lower sum insured, when moving. However, since IRDA is not clear about these cases, as they are rare, some insurance companies may have their own guidelines that you’ll have to read through before going ahead with the same.
Hope the above clarifies most of the common doubts and concerns. If you wish to know more, feel free to comment on this article and I’d be happy to answer your queries!
Tags : Health insurance, medical insurance plans, medical insurance policy
Sourcefrom: http://www.moneycontrol.com/master_your_money/stocks_news_consumption.php?autono=3085921