Group Insurance

Key Features of Group Insurance

Here are some of the common features of group insurance for employees:

• Group insurance provides standard coverage to a group of people at competitive premium rates.
• Irrespective of the number of people, group insurance provides coverage to all members under the same plan.
• The admin of the group gets the master policy in the name of the group.
• A member of the group is covered as long as he/she is a part of the group.
• An employer that provides group health insurance to the employees gets tax benefits as well.
• Group insurance comes in the form of several other plans such as group health insurance, group term life insurance, group travel insurance, group personal accident insurance, group travel insurance and group covid insurance.

Types of Group Insurance Plans in India

Here are the types of group insurance plans in India:

1. Group Health Insurance

   Group health insurance provides coverage to a group of employees for medical expenses up to a specified sum insured amount. This insurance plan is provided by the employer and it is not limited to the employer only as it provides coverage to the employee’s dependents such as spouses, kids and parents.

2. Group Term Life Insurance

   Group term life insurance is provided by an employer to his/her employees. This insurance plan provides coverage to the employees in the event of death. It is a single policy that provides coverage to a group of people.

3. Group Personal Accident Insurance

   Group personal accident insurance provides coverage to a group of people for the medical expenses incurred due to any accident causing disablement or death to the insured. This policy can be purchased for small as well as a large groups of people including employees, students, bank customers, etc.

4. Group Travel Insurance

   Group travel insurance is a type of insurance policy that provides coverage for any loss or damage caused while traveling. An employer can cover the group of employees from unexpected scenarios such as loss of baggage, documents, flight delay as well as a cancellation. Hence it becomes important for the employer to invest in group travel insurance.

5. Group Covid Insurance

   Group covid insurance is an insurance policy that provides coverage to workers or employees for the expenses incurred during the covid-19 treatment. After the covid-19 outbreak, the Government of India made it mandatory for employers to provide Covid-19 coverage to their employees.

Types of Groups that Can be Covered under Group Insurance

There are two types of groups that can be covered under group insurance:

1. Formal Groups (Employers & Employees)

   This group refers to the working professionals of an organisation or company. In formal groups, the employer purchase a group insurance policy for employees that provides them coverage in case of financial emergency.

2. Informal Group

   An informal group refers to a group such as people in a society or a cultural association. The policy is purchased by the society president or administrator to purchase the group insurance plan and everyone gets covered under the same plan.

Why is Group Insurance needed?

Some of the reasons why group mediclaim is required and beneficial for both employers and employees are:

• Wide Coverage and Better Benefits: Most group medical insurance plans provide wide coverage and elaborated benefits to the policyholders.
• Option to Get Customise Cover: The health insurance policies for groups and corporate give the option to customize coverage. For example, an employer can take a plan that provides maternity cover or OPD coverage.
• Affordable Premiums: Comparing individual health insurance plans with group health insurance in terms of premiums shows groups health plans as affordable. This is because the premiums that one has to pay in respect of coverage that one gets is always higher in group health plans.

Factors that Affect Group Insurance Premium

Here are the following factors that can affect the group insurance pricing:

• Group insurance premiums can be affected by the size of a group means the larger a group, the lower the premium amount will be.
• The average age of the group can also affect the premium amount of the group insurance policy. If the average age of a group is low then the premium will be lower as well.
• Workers doing high-risk jobs such as factory workers, healthcare workers and airline staff will have to pay higher premiums.
• An informal group such as housing societies or cultural associations located in natural calamity-prone areas will be considered high risk and will have to pay higher premiums.
• The claim history of the employer and the group admin will also affect the premium. It means the higher the previous claim ratio is, the higher the premium amount will be.
• If the buyer adds a rider (Add-on) then the premium amount will increase, if the buyer removes any rider then the premium amount will decrease.

Eligibility Criteria

The eligibility criteria to purchase the group insurance plan is as follows:

• The minimum age required to get insured under group insurance is 18 years.
• The maximum age varies from 60 years to 80 years.
• All must be full-time active members of the group.

Group Insurance Premium Calculation

Purchasing a group insurance policy online comes with several benefits. One of them is a premium calculation that you can do online using the online premium calculator tool. Many insurance companies offer insurance premium calculators and you can calculate the insurance premium.

You will have to fill in your details such as your city, the number of people covered and the average age group of members covered. The calculator will give you an estimate of the insurance premium amount.

Why Buy Group Insurance from Policybazaar?

Here are some of the advantages of purchasing a group insurance policy from Policybazaar.

• You can get quick quotes from top insurers.
• 24X7 Claim assistance is provided.
• Be it endorsements, account statements, claims analyses or e-cards, there is an HR panel for all Policy Management requests.
• Policybazaar’s strong bond with insurers and TPAs makes the claiming process seamless.
• A dedicated relationship manager is assigned to resolve service-related queries.
• Customers can get a soft copy of the policy on their registered email ID right after the purchase. However, it is subject to the completion of documents.
• The members get access to several IPD & OPD benefits such as Annual health checkups, mental wellness/Psychiatry, 24X7 unlimited e-consultation from general physicians & specialists and many more.

Group Insurance- FAQs