Deciding to buy health insurance for financial protection during medical emergencies is a good call. But the real work starts after that — you must do thorough homework before picking the right plan for yourself. Firstly, you must decide whether to buy an individual plan or family floater health insurance. Both have advantages and limitations, so it would be best to weigh your options carefully. The key distinction between the two is that an individual health insurance plan is only for one person, paying for their own premium and the total amount insured, but a family floater policy protects every member of the family under a single plan, sharing the cost of the premium and the total amount insured.
How Does an Individual Plan Work?
In an individual health insurance plan, every family member — spouses, kids, or parents — must buy a policy in their name. Therefore, the premium will depend on each person’s age and sum insured. However, suppose you purchase multiple individual policies (for other family members, too) together. In that case, the insurer may give you a discount on the overall premium, while the payout will remain unaffected if one member raises a claim.
How Does the Family Floater Plan Work?
Family floater health insurance covers more than one person under the same plan. For instance, a single premium can protect parents and their children and is usually based on the oldest member. In contrast to individual policies, which are limited to one person, family floater health plans allow any or all members to use the total covered amount. It makes use of the minimal likelihood that all members will become ill at the same time or within the same policy year.
An individual can buy a family floater plan and then become the proposer along with their spouse, dependent parents or children who are divorced, widowed and are under the age of 25. In a family floater plan of INR 4 lakh for a family of four, for example, each covered person can receive benefits up to the entire sum. This is in contrast to receiving INR 1 lakh in an individual plan, which saves them the cost of individual health plans for each member. For example, even with a 10% discount, the premium for an individual health insurance plan for a sum insured of INR 5 lakhs would be approximately INR 12,500, but a family floater plan would cost around INR 10,400 for the same amount insured.
Benefits of an Individual Health Insurance Plan
If you are getting a different plan for each family member, there are various benefits that you will enjoy:
- Cashless Claim: Many health insurance service providers offer cashless hospitalisation, which enables a patient to get medical services or treatment without paying the hospital directly. So, you wouldn’t need to run from pillar to post for cash if an emergency arises.
- Daily Hospital Cash: For each day the policyholder stays in the hospital, insurers give them a daily allowance to meet expenses other than hospitalisation — these could be used for buying consumables, supplies, caretaker, hygiene products or even to meet family members’ travel costs.
Benefits of a Family Floater Plan
Just like individual health insurance, a family floater policy also has its advantages:
- Bigger Insured Sum and Medical Coverage– Compared to individual insurance policies, a family floater insurance plan offers a higher sum insured, and the coverage is comparatively more extensive. Family floater plans typically cover the insured person, their spouse, and their children, but some insurance companies also offer coverage for dependent parents, siblings, and parents-in-law. It also provides your family with the highest level of medical coverage, as each member can use the total sum insured if need be.
- Many Discounts are Available: If you purchase a family floater health insurance plan, you may qualify for discounts that these policies typically provide.
- Simple to Include or Change Family Members: It is simple to include or exclude a new family member in this plan.
- Constant Family Coverage: Two-year policy coverage is currently an option offered by several insurance service providers. This feature enables hassle-free coverage to continue for the chosen duration without any change in premium expenses.
Conclusion
The next step in deciding to buy health insurance is determining whether you should get an individual or a family floater plan? Both have their plus points and restrictions regarding the sum insured, premium costs, coverage and more. Weigh the advantages of both types of health insurance and check out different insurers’ plans before zeroing in on the one to financially protect you and your family.
