While government expenditure towards healthcare is slated to increase in 2021, most individuals still have to resort to private facilities when it comes to availing quality treatment. Consequently, to keep up with the rising medical expenses, individuals need to opt for comprehensive health insurance plans.
This is evident from the Gross Direct Premium income, which saw a 17.16% y-o-y growth in FY20. However, with this increasing demand, insurance buyers also reported a 30-35% surge in premiums in FY21. Under such circumstances, a cost-effective option for your family’s healthcare coverage can be a family floater health insurance plan. Here is a detailed discourse on its advantages over individual insurance plans.
How does a family medical insurance policy work?
As its name suggests, a family floater health insurance plan is a product that covers all family members’ medical expenses against a single annual premium. Following are a few pointers for individuals to understand how it works.
- An insured family can comprise up to 6 members, and the total sum insured is shared by all family members.
- The policy premium is decided according to the age of the eldest family member. Higher the age more will be the premium.
- A single member can use the entire sum in one claim, or policyholders can file multiple claims for different family members.
- Individuals will also incur additional co-payment and deductions with the expenses mentioned above, depending on their insurance company’s specifications.
In the above procedure, policyholders can avail several benefits of a family health insurance policy.
Benefits of a family floater plan
Following is a list of benefits policyholders can enjoy under a family floater insurance plan.
- Comprehensive coverage
Some of the common costs covered by a family floater health insurance are as follows.
- Hospitalisation charges: Such insurance policies cover all expenses incurred due to hospitalisation. These include medical tests prior to and during the hospital stay, medication, doctor consultation, and necessary treatments involved.
- Ambulance charges: In case individuals need to opt for transportation via ambulance during emergencies, such expenses are addressed under such health insurance plans.
- Free health check-up: Enlisted family members can also avail free periodic medical check-ups during the policy duration.
- Cost-effectiveness
You can conduct an individual and family health insurance comparison to understand how the latter will benefit you more. The latter provides medical coverage for all your family members against a single yearly premium. Unlike individual plans, family floater health insurance policies allow multiple claims and utilisation of the remaining balance by other family members.
- Member addition
Existing policyholders can also add new family members to their plans, depending on the requirements specified by their policy provider.
- Tax benefits
Individuals can avail tax exemptions on their insurance premium payments under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act, 1961.
To avail the above benefits of the best family health insurance in India brought by insurance aggregators like Bajaj Finserv, applicants and their family members need to meet certain eligibility requirements.
Eligibility for family health insurance policy
When applying for a family insurance plan, be careful of the following requirements.
- Policyholders should be aged between 18-65 years.
- Applicants can include adult family members in the age group of 18-65 years in the medical insurance plan.
- Dependents must be aged between 3 months to 30 years to enjoy this insurance policy’s healthcare benefits.
Once you and your family members qualify for an insurance plan, it is important to know how you can raise a claim for immediate aid during an emergency.
How to claim your family insurance plan effectively?
Policyholders can claim their family floater health insurance policy for hospitalisation in the following steps –
Step 1: Contact the customer service number of your insurance provider at least 2 days prior to a planned hospitalisation, and inform of the same. In case of emergency hospitalisations, inform the insurer about the process as fast as possible.
Step 2: Duly fill in the insurance claim form and submit it along with other mandatory documents like hospital and medicine bills, prescriptions, etc.
Step 3: Once all documents are verified, and your claim is approved, the insurance provider will settle all bills with the hospital directly.
The claim approval time can vary across insurance providers.
Before choosing the best medical insurance in India for family, take note of treatments and conditions not covered by the provider. Also, be aware of the member limit and renewal time offered.
