Advantages of Group Health Insurance in India

These days after too much awareness on print media, financial blogs and electronic media, both employers & employees have become aware of the importance of Group health insurance in India which covers employer, his spouse and his children and there are some health insurance companies in India which also covers your parents.

This article is all about the group health insurance policies and what are the things which are covered under this group insurance and what are the things which are not covered under it.

What is Group Health Insurance

As the name suggests, when a group of people in a family or a group of people working in an organisation buys a health insurance policy covering 50 or 100 people, it is termed as group insurance policy in India. This concept is a win-win situation for insurance company and the person who is insured.

Just think, how much do HDFC Ergo can get premiums from a single deal is they tie up with company like Reliance Industries. On the other hand, the insured gets all the members of the family getting insured under one health insurance policy & the premium amount is quite less, had they bought insurance policies individually.

The group insurance policy works under certain terms & conditions which are applicable to the entire group insured. Some health insurance policies offer pre existing diseases from day one of the policy while others cover it from second year on wards.

Advantages of Group Insurance from Employer

1. No Medicals

The best part of medical health insurance is that you are not required to go for any medical check ups either for yourself or for your family. You are covered under group health insurance from your employer from day one who get the policy papers in your hand.

2. You get Maternity Benefits too

Another positive which I believe these policies offer is that you are covered for maternity benefits for your wife and thats what not many individual health insurance policies cover.

3. Low Cost affair

Another important thing to discuss over here is that they are upto 30-35% cheaper than individual health plans. The premium that you or your employer pays per person is quite low comparatively.

4. Pre Existing Diseases Clause

As I mentioned earlier, you and your parents are covered under pre existing diseases from day one of the policy. So even if you are suffering from some ailment like malaria, you would be covered under it. Under individual health plan, you won’t enjoy such benefits

But apart from advantages being served by these insurance companies, there are some disadvantages too especially when you buy policy from your employer. These are some of them:

1. Your Employer May Exclude your parents from Health Insurance Policy

Yes, this is the sole decision of your employer whether or not, he want to cover your parents in the policy or not. The companies always want to be cost effective and they can cut the medical expenses of your parents while making a contract with any health insurance company. If this happens, you need to buy individual health plan for them or buying additional group health cover which covers your parents

2. Employer can Take back Health cover Benefit anytime

Yes, this is normal routine especially with the private limited companies in India. They can reduce the health insurance cover anytime they want. It can be done with a single click when they send an internal mail to all its employees that “due to cost cutting, we are lowering down your group health insurance cover”. Or you may be required to pay health insuarance premiums yourself.

3. Employer Health Plan won’t help you during Retirement

If you are a private sector employee and want to change organisation after every 3-4 years, then you never knew what would be the policy adopted by your new employer. You never knew whether they would provide you with health cover or not. As you grow old and buy health policy in the later stages of life, the premium that you pay per year would be much higher as compared to the premiums if you buy policy in your young age.

Also read : What is Health Insurance ,  Frequently Asked Questions on Health Insurance

Conclusion

Group health insurance policy is an excellent policy to take care of your medical expenses for your entire life. And the group health insurance cover shall be treated as an additional policy apart from the individual policy which you must buy and  keep that in your portfolio.