Leaving Your Job? Here's What You Should Do For The Continuity Of Health Insurance

Medical inflation is higher than retail inflation at around 15 per cent. With the increased costs of medical care, health insurance is now more important than ever. In fact, employers must provide health insurance to their employees.

While that is a good thing, one needs to remember that your employer's health cover will cease to exist when you leave the job or in case of termination. This would mean that there would be a period where you will not be covered by health insurance.

That is why experts always say that you should buy personal health insurance cover. That is important, however, your employer may allow you to continue your health cover even after your job term gets over. In other words, your group cover will then be converted to personal cover and you have to pay the premiums.

One can easily transfer their group health insurance to personal retail insurance upon leaving their job. This process is called insurance porting. “The key benefit of transferring is the reduction in waiting periods especially for pre-existing diseases (PEDs), which can make health insurance coverage effective much sooner. If someone doesn’t already have their health insurance plan or is not sure of getting health insurance from future employment, then this portability can ensure continuous coverage without losing prior benefits or needing to restart waiting periods,” says Siddharth Singhal, head - health insurance, Policybazaar.com, an online insurance marketplace.

What To Know

When transferring from a group plan to an individual plan, one should know the following.

The porting is possible only with the same insurer who was providing corporate coverage. Once you have an individual plan, then you can easily port to other insurers depending on your requirements.

“It’s important to remember that the waiting period for PEDs is reduced by the time you’ve already covered under the group policy. But any remaining period will still apply. For instance, if your new retail policy has a three-year waiting period for a certain condition, and you have completed two years of waiting period under a corporate plan, you will need to serve only one more year until the coverage kicks in,” says Singhal.

If you go for a higher cover amount in a new retail plan, the waiting period will apply only to the incremental amount of cover. Just the segment of the sum assured that matches the group plan will benefit from the waiting period waiver.

Customisation of the plan is very much possible while porting, you can go for add-ons like consumables cover, outpatient department (OPD) benefit, PED reduction rider, and so on.

“The employee should consult the insurer for transfer of benefits in the personal insurance including covers related to waiting periods and moratorium period. They should approach the insurer 45 days prior to the date of separation from the employer,” says Subrata Mondal, MD and CEO, IFFCO Tokio General Insurance Company.

Remember that even a few days of no health coverage can lead to unexpected medical expenses. It is crucial to stay protected, always.