Health Insurance Plans for Family

2. Stress-free Hospitalization

With family health plans, you and your family members can avail cashless treatment at any hospital of your choice, just like in individual health plans. The insurance company pays all the medical bills once the treatment is complete. In this way, you can ensure the best medical treatment for all your family members without the stress of paying the hospital bills or compromising on their treatment.

3. Financially Preparedness for Family Medical Emergencies

Anyone in your family can get sick without any warning. Besides, healthcare facilities are skyrocketing in India with the rising medical inflation. Having a health insurance policy for your entire family can keep you financially prepared for any medical emergencies faced by any family member. Besides, you will be able to afford quality treatment at the right time without exhausting your savings.

4. Affordable Premium

Family floater health plans are more affordable than individual health plans as they do not require you to pay separate premiums for all the family members. Even if you opt for a higher sum insured, the premiums will be more economical than buying individual health insurance plans for all family members. Thus, you can cover yourself, your spouse, children, parents and other family members under the same plan at an affordable premium. However, buying an individual health cover for your parents is advisable as their age-related health issues may increase your premium.

5. Insure New Family Members Easily

In family health insurance plans, you can add a new family member, like your spouse or newborn baby, easily on the payment of an extra premium. Unlike an individual cover, you do not need to take a fresh policy every time there is an addition to your family. However, if you plan to add your parents to an existing family health plan, make sure to increase your sum insured, as they may require regular medical attention.

6. Insufficient Corporate Policy

Contrary to popular belief, corporate health insurance provided by employers is not enough to provide comprehensive coverage to your entire family. This is because the sum insured offered by most companies is not more than ₹5 lakh, which is insufficient to cover the whole family’s medical expenses in today’s day and age. Moreover, these policies are only available until you work for your employer. A separate family health plan ensures sufficient medical coverage for you and your family even after leaving your job.

7. COVID Health Insurance for Family

You can buy Health insurance for Coronavirus to financially secure yourself and your family members against COVID-19. Although all insurance providers offer coronavirus treatment cover under regular health insurance plans, coronavirus-specific plans, such as ‘Corona Kavach policy’, are also available that cover coronavirus hospitalization costs on a floater sum insured basis.

8. Tax Benefits on Family Health Insurance Premium

Under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act, family health insurance premiums are given a tax exemption just like individual policy premiums. Thus, if you are paying the health insurance premium for your family and parents, then you can enjoy tax benefits.

• Ambulance Charges– The expenses incurred on availing ambulance services to the hospital during a medical emergency are covered.
• Pre and Post-Hospitalization Expenses –The medical expenses incurred before hospitalization (medical investigation, tests, etc.) and after discharge (follow-up consultation, etc.) are also covered up to a certain number of days.
• Maternity Cover – Most family health insurance plans come with maternity insurance that covers pregnancy-related expenses and newborn baby expenses.
• Organ Donor Expenses – This covers the cost of harvesting a donated organ in case of an organ transplant.
• AYUSH Treatment – Any hospitalization expenses incurred to avail treatment through Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Yoga, Siddha and Unani are covered.
• Domiciliary Treatment – This pays for the medical expenses incurred on availing treatment at home on the advice of a doctor.
• OPD Cover – It covers the cost of availing doctor consultations on an outpatient department basis along with expenses incurred on medicines and diagnostic tests.
• Daily Cash Allowance – A daily hospital cash allowance is provided to the policyholder to cover day-to-day incidental expenses during hospitalization.
• Mental Illness Cover – Most family health insurance plans provide coverage for mental diseases, such as depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, etc.
• Consumables Cover – Several family plans also cover the cost of consumables or non-medical items, such as syringes, gowns, cotton, diapers, etc.
• Health Check-ups – This covers the cost of availing preventive health check-ups at a network provider of the insurance company.

• Cosmetic treatment or plastic surgeries
• Treatment that was taken overseas unless it is included in the plan
• Any illness or injury resulting due to war conditions, nuclear reaction, rebellion, acts of foreign enemies, etc.
• Injury or illness due to participation in unethical or criminal activities
• Self-inflicted injuries or suicide
• Treatment for drug or alcohol addiction

*As per the latest IRDAI guidelines, the maximum entry age reference of 65 years for health insurance plans has been removed.

• You must choose to increase the sum insured if you include new family members, especially parents, in the policy to ensure enough coverage for each family member.
• The policy will no longer cover your dependent child as soon as he/she crosses the maximum age limit for children specified in the policy document.
• Avoid adding senior citizen parents to your existing family health plan, as it will significantly increase the premium. Moreover, the coverage will not be suited for their age-related health issues.
• All family health insurance plans come with lifetime renewability.

• Choose a Plan with Unlimited Restoration of the Sum Insured

  Most health insurance plans for families offer the restoration benefit that recharges the sum insured by 100% before renewals on partial or complete exhaustion. While some plans allow unlimited restoration during a policy year, others may restore it only once a year. Moreover, the restoration benefit may or may not be available for claims arising from the same illness. Hence, you must choose a family plan that offers unlimited restoration of the sum insured for unrelated and same illnesses during the policy year.

• Pick a Plan with a Minimal PED Waiting Period

  As per the latest guidelines by the Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority of India (IRDAI), pre-existing diseases are covered by health insurance plans after a maximum waiting period of 3 years. However, some family health plans also offer PED coverage from day 1 for some listed diseases. Therefore, you must pick a health plan that covers the pre-existing diseases of your family members after a minimal waiting period.

• Opt for a Plan with the Sum Insured Enhancement Option

  The cost of medical facilities keeps increasing due to inflation. Thus, you must opt for a plan that comes with an option to enhance your sum insured during renewals. Several insurers offer cumulative bonus benefit that increases your sum insured amount by up to 100% if you do not raise a claim in the previous policy years.

• Opt for Plans with Cashless Everywhere Facilities

  All health insurance companies in India offer cashless hospitalization facilities at their network hospitals. But with cashless everywhere benefit, you can avail cashless treatment at any hospital of your choice across India. This makes the hospitalization process seamless and hassle-free. Thus, you must go ahead with a family mediclaim policy with the cashless everywhere benefit.

• Check the Maximum Entry Age

  Every family health insurance plan may have different eligibility and entry age criteria. Before buying a family plan, check the eligibility criteria to ensure coverage for all your family members. Moreover, you should opt for a family health plan that comes with a lifelong policy renewal facility.

• Get Hassle-free Claim Settlement

  Before buying any health insurance plan for your family, make sure to check and understand the insurance company's claim settlement process. Opt for a plan that provides a quick claim settlement while approving cashless claims within a few hours. Moreover, check if the customer support team of the insurer is available 24x7 for claim assistance so that you can reach them out whenever a medical emergency strikes.

• Step 3: Enter your city or Pin code and provide details of any past medical history of the family members to be insured
• Step 4: Select if your employer offers medical insurance and choose the sum insured range if they do
• Step 5: Family health insurance plans from multiple insurance companies will be displayed
• Step 6: Compare the plans and choose the ideal plan for your family’s health needs
• Step 7: Pay the premium for the plan you want to purchase online
• Step 8: You will receive your family health insurance policy once the insurer receives the premium payment.

In case of any query, you can reach out to insurance experts at Policybazaar.com by calling the toll-free number at 1800-208-8787 or by sending an email to care@policybazaar.com

• The claim management team of your insurer will send you the letter of approval if the cashless claim request is approved.
• If there is any query regarding your claim, the insurance company will contact the hospital for the same. In case the request is not approved, you will need to raise a reimbursement claim later.
• Once approved, obtain the treatment at the hospital and sign all the documents before discharge.
• Your insurer will settle your medical bills with the hospital.

Reimbursement Claim Process:

• Intimate your insurer about your medical emergency within 24 hours of getting hospitalized. For planned hospitalizations, the insurer must be notified at least 48 hours before being admitted
• Receive the treatment at the hospital.
• Pay all the hospital bills and collect all documents at the time of discharge.
• Submit the filled-in claim form along with other required documents to your insurance provider at the earliest.
• The claim management team of the insurance company will review your claim and verify all your documents.
• You will receive a letter of approval or rejection from the team after your claim has been verified.