Why you must consider purchasing family floater plan while buying health insurance

"It covers all the members under a single umbrella of health insurance. Here, the chosen sum insured is available for the entire family in case of a health emergency and its related expenses. This feature itself gives it the name 'Family Floater', as the sum insured floats among all the family members for use," said Mahavir Chopra, Director - Health, Life and Strategic Initiatives, Coverfox.

The logic behind purchasing such a plan is that there would rarely be an instance of the entire family falling sick and needing hospitalisation or other health-related services at the same time.

Why must one have a family-floater plan?

The sole reason for why one should opt for a family-floater health insurance plan is health inflation, which is currently rising at a rapid pace.

"Modern lifestyle, stressful working conditions and new age diseases have acted as a stimulus in raising the health care costs. If one wishes to protect his hard-earned income from the claws of health expenses, a floater health cover is absolutely necessary," Chopra said.

As is the case with most things, buying insurance in bulk is always better. A family-floater plan will cover the entire family under one policy and will therefore, cost less than multiple individual policies.

"One of the key benefit is the premium paid for a family floater plan will be lesser than opting for an individual plans for each family member," said Anurag Rastogi, Member of Executive Management, HDFC ERGO General Insurance.

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Savings by purchasing a family floater plan compare to individual plan

Key points to check while buying a family floater plan

Before buying a family-floater health insurance plan, one should consider the age of his or her family members. Present ailments, if any, must also be considered and so should the family's medical history.

Also read | Avoid these six pitfalls while buying health insurance

"Compare various family floater plans and understand the track record of the company in terms of claim settlement," said Bhaskar Nerurkar, Head, Health Administration Team, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance.

"Apart from premium difference of individual and floater policy, one should also check for sub limit applicable, renewable conditions, no claim bonus and other continuity benefits, etc. before opting for a family floater policy," said Jyoti Punja, Chief Customer Officer, Cigna TTK Health Insurance.

Anurag Rastogi of HDFC ERGO General Insurance was of the opinion that one must consider pre-existing ailments of all family members before purchasing the policy, so that any member with a condition could be insured separately.

"One must also check for any pre-existing diseases, as it would be beneficial to cover a person with medical history separately, for reason that his or her claim might utilize the entire sum insured in event a major claim. In such cases, policies with restoration or regain benefit would be helpful to choose from," he said.

Difference between individual plans and family-floater plans

Although the features and benefits offered under individual health insurance plans and family-floater plans are largely the same, there are a few features that set the two apart. Coverfox's Mahavir Chopra explains:

• Sum Insured - In a family-floater plan, the chosen sum insured is used by all the members who have been insured in the policy. In contrast, in the case of an individual policy, the sum insured is for the use of the insured member only. So, if a family-floater policy has a sum insured of Rs 10 lakh, and if a member makes a claim of Rs 1 lakh, there is still Rs 9 lakh left for the other members to use.


• Coverage - An individual health insurance plan covers just one person, whereas a family-floater plan covers all the members of a family i.e. spouse, children, parents/parents-in law. Some new-age plans even extend the coverage to brothers, sisters and other family members under the same plan. A family-floater plan even covers newborn children who are only 90 days old or less, something an individual health insurance plan does not provide.


• Premiums - Age determines the premium in both these kinds of policies. The age of the eldest member of the family under a family floater plan is what determines the premium payable, even though he or she may not be the proposer or policyholder. This makes it cheaper than buying a separate individual policy for each and every member of the family.Follow @thanawala_hiral