Benefits of Health Insurance Portability

Health Insurance Portability is facility specially designed for a health insurance policy holder that allows the insured to shift to an altogether new medical insurance cover.

To give you a broader view of the entire portability concept, let’s get into the details. You might have had health insurance for a long time now. It is possible that the benefits offered by your existing plan might start to seem less in value, especially after reviewing what’s being offered by the new entrants in the market. There might come a point wherein you might wish to opt for a new policy. But, what about the accumulated benefits, such as no claim bonus, waiting period, etc. on your current plan. This is where one can avail the facility of portability especially meant for such situations.

As per the guidelines laid by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDA), the insured has the option of porting to some other health insurance plan. There are many circumstances under which you might want to switch to a different health care policy. Situations like being dissatisfied with the current plan, looking for a plan that offers more coverage options, or maybe you feel that some other plan would prove to be beneficial, etc. Under such situations, you might want to shift to some other insurance plan, which you can do easily thanks to the portability facility.

From the time you purchase mediclaim policies, there are certain benefits that you accumulate over a period of your long-term association with that health insurance company. And, if you discontinue the existing policy and buy a new policy altogether, you tend to lose out on all those benefits accumulated over the past several years. However, with the portability facility it becomes easier to carry forward these accumulated benefits.

Things you should know about policy portability

Given below are a few things that one needs to keep in mind when it comes to porting your health plan:

1. You have the liberty to port to or from a health policy only when your existing policy is up for renewal.

2. You need to notify your old health insurer at least 45 days before your policy renewal date.

3. You need to write to your old insurance company and appeal for a policy shift and also mention the name of the company you are willingly shifting to.

4. You can port your policy only at the time of its renewal so that your insurance period post renewal starts with the new company.

5. You can port any policy, be it individual or the one that involves a family.

6. It is only the waiting period credit from the previous policy that remains untouched, and all the terms of the newly purchased policy including the policy premium are at the sole discretion of the new insurance company.

7. Both insurance companies are required to complete the process of porting within a certain timeframe as prescribed in the guidelines laid down by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India under Protection of Policyholder’s interests.

8. It is mandatory that the new insurance company quotes a sum insured which is closest or similar to your previous policy.

9. It is required that your new insurer gives you the credit with regards to the waiting period for pre-existing diseases or conditions that was accumulated in your old policy.

In totality, portability from one health insurance plan to another proves to be most beneficial as it gives you the ability to shift to a better health insurance plan as per your changing health care needs.