How To Port Or Transfer Health Insurance Policy In India?

Like mobile portability, we also have health insurance portability in India. What this means is that if you are unhappy with a particular health insurance company, you can now move to an altogether new insurance company.

Say for example, if the claims settlement was slow or if you were unhappy with the transparency, you could now transfer your insurance policy to a company.

Here are some things that you need to keep in mind, before you port your health insurance policy:

1) Does the sum insured change?

The answer is that the new insurance company cannot reduce the sum insured than what was prevailing in the policy at the previous company.

That is good news for policy holders, as you now get adequate health coverage.

2) Is it restricted to a particular health insurance policy?

The answer is no. If you have an individual policy, you can port that and you can also transfer your family policy.

3) Do you have to once again under go waiting period for pre-existing diseases?

The answer is no. Say for example, your health insurance policy will not treat hernia, until 2 years after its discovered. Now, if you have already completed 1 year waiting period in the old policy, then you have to just complete another 1 year under the new policy.

4) Is there a time period to complete the insurance transfer?

Yes. There are guidelines that are aid down by the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority, which have to be adhered by the companies.

5) All credits shall be transferred

If you have any credits from the previous policy, they all shall be transferred. For example, some health insurance companies increase the coverage by 5 per cent every year, if there is no claims. In such cases this credit will pass on to the new company.

A few points to remember during health insurance portability?

When you transfer insurance policy you should remember the following:

a) Do it only during renewal

You are now allowed to port an insurance, mid way through the policy. So, for example, if your policy is slated to expire sometime on July 1, 2016, you should apply for portability at that time of renewal.

B) It should be done at least 45 days before the expiry of the existing policy. You should:

1) Give a letter to your old company, telling that you wish to port the insurance policy.

2) Mention the company where you want to transfer the insurance policy.

Conclusion

Insurance portability is pretty easy in India, though it make take some time to complete the process. Go ahead and transfer insurance policy, if you are not happy with the existing provider. The IRDA has a website, where all details are provided to the provider on a particular policy. It is pretty transparent and hence the policy holder as well as the company.

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