How to Transfer Health Insurance from one Company to Another- Health Insurance Portability
The popularity of health insurance is increasing at a fast pace in India. Insurance companies are launching new features and options to attract more customers. This post explains in detail about one such option called health insurance portability.
Health insurance has become quite important these days especially for the people working in companies where no health benefits are provided. Sometimes, we might get inappropriate health insurance which can be a headache. Good news for such people is that now they can change the health insurance to another company. This is just like mobile number portability where you can change the service provider by filling the portability form. In this post, I will explain the detailed procedure on how to change the health insurance from one insurance company to another in India. I will also discuss the benefits of health insurance portability.What is Health Insurance portability and how to get it done ?
Health insurance portability allows the consumer get his health insurance transferred from the current insurance company to a new insurance company. This facility can be availed for all the individual and family health insurance policies from different providers.
Here is the detailed procedure to avail this facility:
•First of all, you need to apply to the new insurance company at least 45 days prior to the premium payment date.
•Fill the required form given by the company along with portability form.
•Thereafter, the new insurance company will verify your details from the old insurance company in 7 days. They check all the aspects like patient history and past claims. You will be informed in 15 days if the new company has approved your application.Benefits of Health Insurance portability
There are a number of benefits of this facility like:
•Firstly, you can switch to a new company that is offering the health insurance at fewer premiums. This also results in increased competition between the insurance companies and the consumers are benefited. The benefit is identical to that in case of mobile number portability.
•It can also improve the claim settlement ratio of different insurance companies in India. Moreover, you can expect better services from the companies as they will want their customers to stick to their policy only.
•If you have a pre-existing disease, the waiting period is carried forward even after you have transferred the insurance. In fact, the guidelines of IRDA clearly state that it is the responsibility of insurer to prevent the loss of insured caused due to transfer.Should you use this facility?
An important thing to remember here is that the concept of Health Insurance portability is new in India. At such, you might not be able to get good support from the different insurance companies. In addition to the above mentioned benefits there are some demerits too. For instance, the features of two insurance policies are not same which can create confusion. Moreover, in case of pre-existing disease, you should be prepared to pay higher premiums after transferring the policy.
Do share with us if you have made use of this amazing facility or plan to do so. If you have any doubts, you can post it as a comment below.
