Why Choose a Family Health Policy Over an Individual Insurance Plan?

Are family health Insurance plans and individual policies confusing you?

Don’t you have any clue what makes these policies differ?

Don’t fret.

A mediclaim policy is a must-have even before investing for life goals. While getting one, it’s good to decide whether you should choose an individual health policy or a family floater.

Both are indemnity plans, i.e. they reimburse the actual medical expenses up to the sum insured.

The basic difference between these two types of policies are:

• The coverage limit.
• Individual plans cover only one individual.
• The family health insurance covers the entire family, including spouse, children, parents, in-laws under a single sum insured.

If you want to buy a policy for the entire family under one sum insured, then go for a family floater policy.

In contrast,

If you belong to a family with a medical history, choosing an individual health insurance cover can help you in the long run.

Read on to uncover what makes family health plans more suitable than individual health plans:

More Affordable & Feasible:

Family health policies are more affordable than individual ones. Just pay a single premium, and the entire family members (up to 5 generations) are covered under a family floater. On the flip side, in an individual plan, you need to buy a separate policy for every family member and pay multiple premiums, which is expensive.

Under a family policy, the sum insured is not restricted to one individual as is the case in an individual health plan. Anyone or all insured family members can avail the entire sum insured.

Purchase, say, Rs. 3 lakh individual health policy for each member of a family of four. Every individual member can avail the treatment of up to the sum insured i.e. Rs. 3 lakh. In addition, buy a family floater of Rs. 12 lakh sum insured. Anyone or all members can get the treatment for up to Rs. 12 lakh.

For instance, in a family of 5 members, if one of the insured members is hospitalised, consuming Rs. 1 lakh of the Rs. 12 lakh, then remaining Rs. 11 lakh can be availed by other members or by the same person for the same disease.

A family health insurance policy is beneficial in the sense that hardly is there any case where all family members fall ill at the same time or within the same year. The possibility is very low.

The family members can be:

• The proposer’s spouse
• Dependent children (up to 25 years or even unmarried)
• Divorced, widowed daughter
• Dependent parents

Keeping Records

Since one single policy covers the entire family members, keeping the records of the policy documents is easy, unlike in case of an individual plan where the documents of separate policies covering every individual in the family should be maintained. So, in this respect also a family floater policy is more feasible than the individual one.

Below is a list of top family and individual policies:

• Religare Care (can be bought as an individual and floater plan)
• Max Bupa Health Companion (individual and floater plan)
• Star Family Health Optima (family floater)
• Star Comprehensive (individual and floater basis)
• Apollo Munich Optima Restore (individual and floater basis)
• HDFC Ergo Health Suraksha (individual and floater basis)
• Iffco Tokio Family Health Protector (family floater)

What Should You Do?

If you have a family with children, then going for a family health insurance policy is a better option. It’s a better cover available at lower premium rates than multiple individual policies. For many families with no history of critical illness, floaters provide the best option.

But if you have a family with a medical history or any one member of your family is suffering from a critical health condition, then purchasing an individual health insurance product can be the right option in the long run.

So why wait? Call our toll-free number and buy health insurance according to your needs.

Also Read

Why Women Need to Buy an Individual Health Insurance Policy?

Thinking of Getting Insured? Learn About Critical Illness Policy First