If you happen to be dissatisfied with your current insurer, you maybe able to switch over to a different Insurance Company in future. However, option can be exercised on specific products common to insurers and not on regular plan.
Presently…
If you have been dissatisfied with the services of your Health Insurer you would have the option of changing your Insurer – not just yet but in near future. Changing your health insurer would means buying a separate policy, which in turn could mean once again going through medical tests, serving the waiting period or even see a disease that your earlier insurer covered getting labeled as a pre-existing disease by the new insurer.
In future…
The insurance industry is going to find a solution to this situation in few months. They are working on a standard health insurance product that will be portable across insurers. This means that you can switch insurers at no extra cost, keeping all the benefits you already have intact.
S.L. Mohan, secretary general, General Insurance Council (GIC) says, “We are working on a product that will have standard features. So, a customer will be able to shift from one insurer to another at the time of renewal without undergoing any fresh application or medical tests.”
Process…
To make your policy transferable you would have to buy specific portable products. If you want to change a regular health insurance policy, you would have to buy a new health insurance policy. This means that you would have to go through a medical test, wait for 30 days before making a claim, wait for 4 years to make a claim for the treatment of any complications arising from a pre-existing ailment (such as diabetes or hypertension) and doing away with benefits, such as no-claim bonus—thus you get a bump up in your sum insured for every no claim year.
Antony Jacob, CEO, Co. Ltd says, “Portability benefits would surely cater to the needs of first-time buyers. Individuals looking for flexibility to lower their sum insured would find it a feasible option. However, insured individuals looking for a higher sum insured and more comprehensive coverage would for a preferred insurance plan from the company of his choice.”
Problem lies in the fact that…
A basic health policy has 3 features
- Hospitalization cover
- Pre and post-hospitalization benefits
- Disease specific exclusion
Insurers innovate around these features and so there is no standard product. One policy may cover you only up to a month after hospitalization, while another may cover for two. Even the hospitalization cover is unique for every insurer. Some policies may have sub-limits, while others may give a blanket cover.
Sanjay Datta, head (customer service—health and accident), ICICI Lombard General Insurance Ltd says, “Portability is difficult among products which are not standardized. Even among the basic health insurance policy, insurers have different features, which can’t be transferred to the new policy.”
The alternative…
- Take enough sum assured
- Later you could bump it up by a portable health insurance policy
Future prospects…
- Carrying forward of no-claim bonus may become a norm
- With standalone firms growing, portability may become an intrinsic part of health insurance.
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Tags: GENERAL INSURANCE COUNCIL, GIC, Health Insurance, ICICI LOMBARD GENERAL INSURANCE, MAX BUPA HEALTH INSURANCE