You may have bought the best health plan and yet you may be deeply unsatisfied with the insurance provider’s services or the overall experience with the policy. To help you come out of this unhappy situation, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, IRDA, has allowed the porting of health insurance policies so that you can switch over to the best plan offered by the other insurance company of your choice. However, it is subject to certain terms and conditions.
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Can Porting Health Insurance Policies be Possible?
Yes, you can port your health insurance policy from the year 2011 IRDAI comes with new norms, and they allow you to port your individual or family floater policy, and the good thing about this porting is you will neither lose any kind of benefits of your plan and nor you lose services like the waiting period for covering the pre-existing disease. Insurance regulations just trying to provide your right to allow the porting service, if an insured person is not happy with the current policy or not getting proper service from the insurance company then you have the right of porting the policy, and this way insurance regulations protect your rights.
But one thing that you should keep in mind while porting is that, the new insurer is not inbound with any kind of foundation it’s on them that they are ready or not to insure you and what kind of premium they’ll offer you to insure. Sometimes, porting would be a bit expensive for you, because with the underwriting criteria they have such power. If you are porting your health plan from one plan to another plan under your current insurance company then it’ll be quite good for you and it also protects your credits. Get Quote
Read on to know how it actually works and what terms you need to look at:
The Process of Porting Health Insurance Policies?
Once you have decided to port the policy, find out about the plan that meets your requirements and if it is better than your existing plan. After finalizing the selection, approach the concerned company at least 45 days before the expiry of the current plan. You’ll have to fill out the proposal form completely without leaving any blanks and giving complete and correct information.
For any more information, the new insurer will contact the old insurer on the web portal launched by IRDA for a smooth exchange of information. As per the regulations, health insurance companies will inform the customer of the decision to accept or deny their proposal within 15 working days. In case the new insurer accepts your proposal, it will send you the proposed terms and conditions for your approval. If you agree with them, you have to pay the premium immediately to bring the new policy into effect.
However, the new insurer might ask you to undergo the medical tests again and you will have to comply with the requirements in a time-bound manner to get your application accepted.
What are Your Rights And Benefits?
- You have a right to port your policy from and to any general insurance company or a specialized health insurance company.
- Both individual, as well as family policies, can be switched.
- Porting is possible from plan to plan or insurer to insurer.
- Health insurance companies are mandated to provide you with credit as far as the waiting period is concerned in regard to pre-existing diseases if you have already met the criteria with your previous insurer.
- You will be insured for at least the same sum assured if not more as provided to you by the old insurer.
- There is a fixed time period during which both the insurance companies have to complete the process and ensure that you don’t remain without a cover for even a single day.
What are The Terms and Conditions?
- The policy can be switched only at the time of renewal of the old policy will not be possible during the middle of the term.
- You have to intimate your current insurer and the prospective insurer at least 45 days before the renewal date about your plans to port and ensure that you renew the policy without any break.
- The new policy you will get is subject to the terms and conditions of the new insurer and based on its underwriting process
- You might be trying to go for the best health policy, but a lot of factors like your age, existing health condition, adverse claim history, and complete/incomplete information on your application form will make an impact on the final decision of the new insurer
What can you port?
As per IRDA norms, you can port your plan’s exclusions and credits like no claim bonus, apart from this, the new insurance company is bound to provide you a waiting period for pre-existing disease and this includes nothing that can happen. The thing that you cannot get ported is the “features of the plan”. To port the plan, you have to apply for it 30 to 45 days in advance and also specify, which company you want to go with. Get Quote
The sum insurance amount you are liable for right now, during porting you have to buy the same or more than this sum insured then-current and it’s a basic rule of porting. For example, if you have medical insurance of ₹5 lacks, but while porting to a new insurer, you want to increase the sum insured to ₹10 lacks, the porting benefit is only ₹5 lakh plus a bonus, if any, will be applicable for.
Even though porting is become easier by the regulator, it is not dependent only on your wish to port. The new insurer has to assess the risks involved with taking you on board and has every right to reject your claim. In short, it is applying for a new insurance policy with the benefit of not going through the waiting period clause again. However, you do have the option to choose the best health policy the second time around if you were unsuccessful the first time. Make the most of it!