Opportunities, risks in porting health policy Premium
The Hindu
Explore the opportunities and risks of health insurance portability, ensuring informed decisions for better coverage and terms.
A few days ago in this column, we examined the risks some insureds encountered while attempting to port hospitalisation policies. After paying the premium, they found themselves either without cover for a period or saddled with terms materially different from what they had proposed and paid for.
In this context, let us look at how you can port policy smoothly —what advantages you should leverage, and the risks and mistakes you should avoid.
Portability — the facility to shift a hospitalisation insurance policy from one insurer to another — was unveiled in end 2011 by the insurance regulator, opening up options for insured to better terms elsewhere and nudge insurers to focus on customer retention via fair pricing and improved service.
The inspiration was mobile number portability implemented earlier in 2011 giving consumers unprecedented freedom. However, insurance is a far more complex. Porting a health policy was never meant to be a simple “walk in with KYC and switch” exercise, as in the case of mobiles.
Why would you want to port the policy? Primarily, to access better products, get wider coverage or more suitable policy terms with another insurer. This could mean broader risk cover, fewer restrictions, higher sum insured or more competitive pricing.
Equally crucial are service-related considerations — poor responsiveness, unsatisfactory TPA performance or an inadequate hospital network.
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