A comprehensive health insurance policy is a necessity in today’s times. With increasing instances of illnesses, diseases, and lifestyle-related disorders, people are becoming more conscious about their health. Also, with the rising costs of medical care, managing a medical emergency can derail your finances. A good health insurance plan can help you protect your family from such emergencies without having to worry about the costs.
Typically, every individual must have a health insurance policy. Medical exigencies can strike anyone at any time. However, if you are living with your family, then opting for a family floater health insurance plan can be a more cost-efficient option compared to buying individual plans for all members.
What is Family Floater Health Insurance?
A family floater plan is a health insurance product where a single policy offers coverage to all approved members of your family. The usual list of approved family members includes your spouse, children, and parents. The insurance provider offers a high sum insured that covers all members of the family. The premium of a family health insurance plan is lower compared to the total premium that you would pay if all members had individual plans.
How Does a Family Floater Policy Work?
Let’s say that Ram purchases a family floater health insurance policy to offer coverage for himself, his wife, two daughters, mother, and father. The sum insured is ₹50 lakhs. During the first year, Ram undergoes a minor surgery that costs ₹5 lakhs. The insurance company covers the surgery, and hence, the cost is borne by the insurer. Ram opts for cashless health insurance and gets treated at a network hospital. After he recovers, his wife falls ill and needs to be hospitalised. Since Ram has already utilised ₹5 lakhs for his surgery, the amount available to his wife is ₹45 lakhs. This continues until the end of the policy term when the utilisation is reset.
Benefits of a Family Floater Health Insurance Policy
A family floater health insurance plan covers your family members from medical emergencies. Here are some benefits of these plans:
- Since you do not have to select an individual policy for each member, you save a lot of time and effort when you opt for a family floater health insurance plan. Also, you don’t have to remember to renew multiple policies.
- Usually, family health insurance plans offer coverage for maternity costs too. If not, then you can opt for a maternity benefits add-on cover to get complete protection from medical costs if you are expecting a child.
- Buying a family floater health insurance plan can help you save a lot of money that you would otherwise pay if you were to purchase individual health insurance plans for each family member.
Things to Remember While Buying a Family Floater Health Insurance Plan
Here are some important aspects that you must keep in mind while buying a family floater health insurance plan:
- Policy coverage: This is one of the most important questions that come up while buying a family health plan — who all are covered in a family floater plan? Since the policy will be shared between multiple people, you must make sure that the coverage is sufficient for all.
- Flexibility: When buying a family floater health insurance plan, make sure that you choose a provider and plan that allows you to add/remove features based on the phase/stage of your life.
- Claims: Make sure that you research the claim settlement ratio of the insurer and the claims process offered. Look for insurers that have a high claim settlement ratio and a hassle-free settlement process.
Conclusion
A family floater health insurance plan offers a range of benefits to policyholders. However, it is important to remember that if you have an old parent with health issues, then the insurer might offer a policy with a high premium requirement since it covers the parent with a high risk of medical treatment/hospitalisation. In such cases, you might want to consider buying an individual health insurance plan for your parents and include the remaining members under the family floater plan.