A Look at Health Insurance Portability & How it Works

Health insurance is a major insurance policy in India. Almost half of the nation’s population has health coverage with one or another type of health insurance. More than 33 IRDA-recognised non-life insurers provide health insurance in India. Due to this high number, there is always competition between insurance providers on perks and benefits. And insured people will always want to transfer their policy to a better insurance company. That is why IRDA introduced Health Insurance Portability in 2011.

Health Insurance Portability

Health Insurance Portability transfers insurance policy from one insurance provider to another. Before 2011, policyholders faced several difficulties while transferring to another health insurance. The main problem was the renewed waiting period for pre-existing conditions. The waiting period is the duration the policyholder has to wait before claiming insurance for pre-existing conditions.

Pre-existing conditions include chronic diseases, diabetes, cholesterol, hypertension, etc. The waiting period is around 2 to 4 years for most health insurances. So, when they transfer from one medical insurance to another, the waiting period resets. And they will have to wait for a renewed waiting period before they can claim on pre-existing conditions.

But, with the introduction of Health Insurance Portability, the waiting period credits are also transferred. For example, suppose a person completes 5 years out of the 6 year waiting period in company A. So, when they port to company B with the same waiting period, they only need 1 more waiting year. Moreover, if company B only requires 5 years waiting period, they won’t require any waiting period in the new company.

Health Insurance Portability protects the policyholder’s interests. It prevents the policyholder from any unwanted stress due to the insurance provider’s mode of operation. It also increases the options for an insured person and gives them the flexibility to transfer to a better insurance policy.

Prerequisites:

Before a person relocates their health insurance from one company to another, there are some basic requirements. Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India or IRDA dictates the following guidelines for the procedure:

*Health Insurance Portability is available in all health and general insurance companies, even for family floaters.

*Family floaters can choose between individual or group policies at the new insurance company.

*Previous insured sum and cumulative bonuses are also migrated.

*The new policy will have to consider the waiting period from the previous policy.

*Individual policyholders must complete at least four years in the previous policy without any breaks for eligibility to portability. There are underwritings for group policy migration.

*Migration application is only possible 45 days before the renewal date of the previous policy. The duration is at the new insurance provider’s discretion.

*There are no charges for migration.

Documents Required:

Before choosing to port to a new insurance provider, you must gather a few important documents. These documents contain your personal, medical, and insurance history. The following documents are necessary for Health Insurance Portability as per IRDA.

*IRDA Portability Form

*Proposal Form

*Previous Insurance Policy Papers

*Health check-up reports and medical records

*Claim history

IRDA portability form is the IRDA approved proposal form, which has the details of the new and old insurance companies. And the proposal form is the list of health insurances the new company provides.

Portability Procedure:

*Inform the current policy provider about the decision to port.

*Get the Proposal and Portability Form from the new insurance provider.

*Submit the filled forms, documents, and the selected new insurance plan to the insurance provider.

*The new company will contact the old company to verify and obtain details. According to the IRDA rule, the old company must provide details within 7 days.

*After a successful verification and premium payment, the new company will draft and give you the new policy.

These are important details of the requirements and procedures of Health Insurance Portability. You must consider these guidelines on portability if you wish to migrate from your existing policy. Care Health Insurance is a leading insurance agency in India. It is a subsidiary of the financial conglomerate Religare Enterprises Limited. Care Health insurance has several great health insurance plans with multiple valuable benefits. Check out their website for more details on health insurance policies and Health Insurance Portability procedures.