After living through a global pandemic, one thing that every individual has realized is the importance of having health insurance. The need to secure one’s future has become of utmost importance because medical emergencies, of any nature, can knock on one’s door anytime.
There is no denying the fact that having insurance eliminates the emotional and mental stress associated with a medical emergency. Suffering from a sudden illness or a death in a family could deteriorate one’s mental health for a longer period. Insurance could be either group insurance from the employer or personal health insurance for a single person or a family. However, which one should you choose?
In the ocean of health insurance, both online and offline, a lot of different options are available at everybody’s disposal.
Sanchit Malik, Co-Founder, and CEO, Pazcare, says, “Group health insurance is a fairly better option than the personal medical cover. Employers often sign up their employees for group health insurance as it is cost-effective and covers smaller details like ambulances and cashless registration in the hospital.”
He further adds, “Easy claim feature is also there in group health insurance as the employer is responsible for the same. In the case of personal insurance, smaller details are not covered and the insurance is not economical.”
Hence, industry experts say, while getting admitted to a hospital, one should prefer to avail the Group policy as the process is quick and response time is efficient and shift to the personal policy later if needed.
Additionally, if you are opting for cashless payment, which one should you go for? According to Malik, in the case where both group and personal health policies exist, the group health cashless option should be considered. Yet if needed, you could then connect and avail the cashless under the personal cover, while this is considered only under a high claim scenario.
If you are confused about which one to opt for between the group insurance and personal health policy while claiming reimbursements, the choice remains with the individual and the amount of claim. However, if it’s a smaller amount and the claim can be made with the group health policy, then it is ideal to use that one instead of the personal health policy.
Experts point out that for smaller claims, if possible, the personal health policy should be avoided so that the no claim bonus (NCB) stays untouched. When you do not make any claim in your health plan, in most of the policies, you are entitled to a No Claim Bonus (NCB) in the subsequent year, which keeps increasing upto a certain limit. By making smaller claims could mean losing out on the accumulation of NCB.
If you are planning to opt for a personal health insurance policy after a group policy from the employer, Malik says, “You should consider having a total health insurance coverage between Rs 6 lakhs and Rs 10 lakhs in total.”