Why Family Health Plan May Not Always Be Good

According to insurance experts, family healthcare plans are more recommended for young people whereas for people aged above 45 years should always buy individual health insurance considering their life style and health problems which might occur because of ageing. Family floaters have fixed insurance cover and in a year multiple members can claim the amount.

However, these days insurance buyers prefer family plans since whole family is covered and premiums are very less as compared to individual plans and family coverage is more. Such types are commonly called as family floaters. But experts recommend taking cautious approach towards such decision, since policy holders are actually taking risks because they feel that – in a year chances of each and every member within a family getting hospitalized is very less.

Experts On Family Vs Individual Policy:

Let’s understand this by taking an example of 4 member family. Suppose youngest member is aged 8 years and eldest with an age of 38 years. This family is planning to purchase insurance cover of INR 5 lac. Now this family will have to pay INR 19, 337 for individual coverage whereas they’ll get INR 10, 000, 00 (ten lacs) by paying INR 700 extra. This is the reason for higher family floaters being popular among families than individual due to higher cover by paying lesser premium.

Experts are also of opinion that bigger family floater for every member is much better than smaller one taken for each individual, since tracking for all can be done easily and you don’t have to pay premiums individually and most importantly children can always be added in the floater very easily.

Always Pay Attention to the Coverage:

Insurance experts suggest family members to keep an eye on the coverage especially during an year when more than one family member getting hospitalized resulting in lesser coverage left for the other members in the family during that particular year. This scenario can occur especially in families with elder members suffering from any lifestyle diseases. In such cases, rest of the family will have to rely on lesser coverage for the remaining year. So in such conditions having an individual health insurance plan is much beneficial than the family floater since there is no reliability left on other members.

So industry experts strongly suggest buying individual health cover for people aged greater than 45 years whereas people aged young, can opt for family floater health plans. Also, customers should prevent themselves from opting for products with restoration features in order to clear the cover.