What is Health Insurance Portability?
You may need to shift your health insurance from your existing insurance provider to another. For such cases, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) launched the concept of Health Insurance Portability in 2011. Through this facility, you can easily port (shift) your medical insurance without losing any existing credit points, waiting period and benefits like no-claims bonus and free medical check-ups. With portability, you may also enjoy some added benefits.
Why do you need health insurance portability?
There could be various reasons that you need to shift your medical from one insurance provider to another. The primary ones are :
- The services and features provide by your current insurer are not sufficient.
- The list of network hospitals with your health insurance provider is not meeting your needs.
- The sum assured is not sufficient to meet your current medical expenses.
You as an insured hold every right to have your medical insurance shifted to another insurer if you have been maintain all the documents and following all the terms and conditions stipulated by your current insurer.
Process of Applying for Medical Insurance Portability
You can only apply for portability when your existing policy is due for renewal. You can submit a written application to new insurance provider. This must be done at least 45 days before expiry of existing medical plan.
- On receiving your application, the insurance company will send you a proposal form, a portability form, and a detailed document with all the features and benefits of health insurance provided by them.
- You have to fill in all the forms after reading carefully the offerings and terms & conditions.
- Once the insurance companies receives all the filled forms form you, they will obtain your medical records and claim history from your current insurer.
- The existing or current insurer is bound to furnish all the details within 7 working days through a common data-sharing portal developed by IRDA.
- Once the details are received, the new insurance company will have to release the medical insurance for you within 15 days.
What are the benefits of Medical Insurance Portability?
- Competitive or lower premiums for the same sum assured
- Better services on offer than the previous insurance provider
- Smoother claim settlement process
- Tie up with an insurer with good claim settlement ratios
- Option to buy an upgraded health plan, which was not available when you bought the policy
- Existing health insurance benefits like bonuses, waiting periods for pre-existing diseases etc. are carried forward to the new plan with new insurer.
- The stipulated waiting period of 30 days from the commencement of policy to enjoy the benefits of health plans gets waived off in a ported policy
Insurance Company’s Rights in the Matter of Health Insurance Portability
If you fail to apply for portability 45 days before the renewal date of your existing policy, the insurance company holds the right to make a decision whether to accept your portability request or not. Every application for portability is considered new by the insurance company and goes under a tight scrutiny before being finalized. The insurance provider will examine the risk involved in changing the premium amount and offering other benefits. If there are any risks posed during this examination, the company can reject your portability application. You may continue with existing policy in that case. Also, portability is easy in early age. As you grow older, insurance providers hesitate to approve portability as the health hazards are greater.
Please note that terms and conditions of every insurance company offering health insurance in India are different. It is important to read carefully before applying for health insurance portability.