Manav Gupta, 32, was hospitalised for a day over a minor stomach issue. On discharge, he wasn’t stressed as he believed his health insurance policy would take care of financial processes and the claims would be a hassle-free process.
But, the opposite happened. His policy had riders on reimbursement limits, the claim of hassle-free process didn’t turn out to be a reality and he was, evidently, quite dissatisfied with the company with which he had an insurance policy.
After conducting due research, he became aware about the portability right. Like Gupta, many are unaware of the health insurance portability feature.
The portability feature helps a consumer to come out of an underperforming insurance policy. You can change your health insurance policy from one company to another, without losing benefits such as the waiting period.
The insurance regulator, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), gives you a right to port your or family’s policy to any other insurer of your choice.
The new insurer has to accommodate your waiting period credit and insure you at least up to the sum insured under the old policy. The two insurers should complete the porting process as per the prescribed timelines.
Meanwhile, a policyholder should apply for porting at least 45 days before the renewal date. He/she will have to fill out a portability form, proposal form and submit the documents to the old insurance company,
Also, policyholders have to specify company to which they want to shift the policy.
In case of Gupta, he completed all the formalities and switched to Apollo Munich Health Insurance, which offered him several features such as restore benefits, multiplier benefits, post-hospitalisation care, emergency ambulance cover, etc., at a much lower premium and he could do it easily online. He also benefitted from Apollo Munich’s domiciliary treatment and preventive health check-up.
It is noteworthy that the new insurer can reject your policy and apart from the waiting period credit, all other terms of the new policy including the premium are at the discretion of the new insurance company.
In this backdrop, a policyholder should fully understand the policies and understand the product.
Portability, indeed, is the right way to end the relationship with the insurance company, which works on the contrary of it claims. The feature helps you to end needless overspending on inefficient policies and a tyranny of low cost expectations.
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