Does Family Size Impact Your Health Insurance Cost? How does family insurance work?

Posted on: Sep 18, 2020 | | Written by:

Does Family Size Impact Your Health Insurance Cost? How does family insurance work?

Published on Sept 15, 2020. EST READ TIME: 5 MIN

If you really love your family, show it by caring for their health. The pandemic has only reminded that getting health insurance plans for familyis essential as in the absence of health insurance, exorbitant medical bills can drain all your savings. However, which policy for family you should opt for needs a bit of brainstorming. To choose a family floater plan that provides coverage to everyone in your family while giving maximum benefits, you need to know certain things. Read on to learn more.

Family matters: Know what impacts the premiums of family health insurance

It’s indeed a blessing if you have a loving family to go to at the end of the day and you would happily put everything second when compared to the safety of your family members. Courtesy factors like taxing schedules, sedentary lifestyles, pollution, and food contamination, many existing ailments threaten our well-being and now, a global pandemic like the Coronavirus outbreak has made us even more vulnerable. Therefore, it becomes a necessity to ensure that your loved ones stay healthy and have health insurance to deal with medical emergencies. While choosing health insurance plans for family , many questions may have crossed your mind. So, here are some things you should know about policy for family to make a sound decision.

How does Family Health Insurance work?

Health insurance plans for family, or commonly known as Family Floater plan, is a comprehensive policy that protects your family financially when any member who is part of the policy gets hospitalized. While an individual health plan protects only one person at a time, in a family floater, you get the benefit of insuring your entire immediate family under one single plan. That is, the sum assured in the coverage is shared by everyone in the plan. The premium of one family floater plan is lower than what you would spend buying a separate plan for each member.

So, here’s how it works.

For example, if your floater plan comes with Rs 7 lakh cover and your spouse gets hospitalised, the entire amount of 7 lakh can be used. If the medical expenses are less than 7 lakh, then the remaining amount can be used by other family members during a different medical emergency. If the whole sum insured is used in the treatment of your spouse, then others will be left with nothing to use and you would have to bear the cost of treatment. In case of the death of an insured member, the other members will continue with the sum insured.

Does family size impact your health insurance cost?

Firstly, a bigger family size doesn’t inevitably mean more medical expenses. Let’s say, the four people registered in one particular plan didn’t need any kind of hospitalisation in a year. Then they will have less medical expenses compared to the couple who needed it twice in the year. However, more members mean you would have to pay a bigger premium. Spouse, siblings, kids, parents can be part of the plan, depending on the terms and conditions of the insurer. Usually, the insurance companies offer customized plans for spouses, a couple with one child, couple with two children, so on and so forth. If you wish to add another member in the floater plan, you would have to pay an extra premium.

Also, the age of the eldest member in the plan is a major contributing factor in the health insurance premium as with age, the risk of developing health issues increase. So, the extra premium you would pay to add your 11-year-old daughter would be significantly less than what you would pay to add your 58-year-old wife in the plan. If your family members have a medical history of suffering from serious illnesses, you should opt for bigger coverage. Also, you can increase your sum insured at the time of renewals.

Do parents qualify as dependents for health insurance?

Yes, but up to a certain age. Well, some insurance companies offer lifelong renewability, most have an age cap of 60-65 years. Also, experts suggest that you should take a different health insurance plan meant for senior citizens instead of adding them as a member of the family floater plan. The logic behind is that people over 60 are more likely to develop a critical illness, whose treatment can use up the whole sum insured and in the meanwhile, if another member falls sick, you would have to dig into your savings to pay for the treatment of the latter. A family floater is beneficial and more suitable for couples and nuclear families with young individuals who are less prone to health risks.

Conclusion

With health facilities getting better, the cost of treatment is also rising. Protect your family with a family floater health insurance and get rid of financial woes during medical emergencies. Buy health insurance policy online today if you still don’t have one.The policy for family will allow you to get the best care possible at the nearest hospital.

This blog is written by Dr. Kavita Ganesh
Asst. Vice President, Health & Accident Product Underwriting

About The Expert : Dr. Kavita Ganesh holds over 15 years of work experience in health insurance industry. She highly recommends buying health insurance for securing finances in case of a medical emergency. Looking at the current pandemic situation, she enforces the idea of having a higher sum insured for covering the entire family.

Disclaimer: The above information is for illustrative purpose only. For more details, please refer to policy wordings and prospectus before concluding the sales.

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