My medical health insurance policy plan doesn’t allow me to extend the sum insured. Also, I find that it’s a basic plan with no features like no-claim bonus. I need to change to a different insurer now. My date for renewal of premium is February 15. Am I eligible to port now? But, do you, in the primary place, suggest porting? I’m 35 years old with a dependant spouse (32 years) and a baby (5).
Chandra
When you are unhappy along with your current insurance company, especially with the service, issues with claim settlement, coverage, etc., you’ll be able to opt to port your medical health insurance policy with an insurer of your alternative. Porting a medical health insurance policy is switching from one insurer to a latest insurer keeping intact the advantages earned out of your previous insurer and transferring the identical to the brand new insurer. For example, because of this you don’t need to begin your waiting period with the brand new insurer from scratch, but from the waiting period already served with the previous insurer. Even your no-claim bonus advantages earned will transfer to the brand new insurer. When you want to port your policy, then the portability process has to begin a minimum of 45 days prior to your policy-end date, which allows time for the brand new insurance company to make a choice in your proposal. This also allows you adequate time to rethink your decision to port your policy.
Whenever you want to port your policy, you want to submit a fresh proposal form together with the portability form with the brand new preferred insurer. The brand new insurance firms will do their due diligence and reach out to your previous insurance company to get your medical information and claims history. Nevertheless, it’s necessary to notice that the brand new insurer might accept or reject your proposal and even propose restricted covers as per their underwriting norms. In your case, your policy has already ended on February 15, 2022, and hence the identical can’t be ported now since you want to initiate the portability process 45 days before your renewal. You possibly can now initiate the porting process at your next renewal only.
Since your age is 35 years and assuming you shouldn’t have any opposed health conditions, chances are you’ll apply for portability with any insurance company. I’d advise you to maintain a number of things in mind before porting your policy, like what’s the waiting period in your latest medical health insurance policy and in the event you are being passed on all advantages of continuity. You could select a sum insured which suits the healthcare cost prevailing in your city. Metro cities may demand the next sum insured as a result of the upper cost of healthcare. You could pay attention to the features that the brand new product has to supply. It is sweet to have products that cover cumulative bonus, reinstatement advantages, recharge profit, preventive health checks, etc.
Medical insurance portability provides you the freedom to decide on a policy of your alternative, but it will be important to do a comparative study and make the precise alternative not based purely on premium, but which suits your and your loved ones’s healthcare needs.
The author is Head – Health Administration Team, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance
Send your queries to insurancequeries@thehindu.co.in
Published on
May 21, 2022
