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6 Benefits of Porting Health Insurance Policy

6 Benefits of Porting Health Insurance Policy

The increasing shift of most people towards a sedentary lifestyle and the rising healthcare costs have made many realise the true importance of health insurance. While people are more aware of the need for health insurance, picking the right plan and insurer remains a big problem. Many choose a policy that doesn’t offer the required coverage due to a lack of research.

Some even get stuck with an insurer providing substandard services. To help policyholders like these, IRDAI rolled out the health insurance portability feature, allowing people to switch to a better insurer without losing the accrued benefits. You can view insurance portability similarly to your telecommunication portability option.

Just like you could change your telecom provider if they failed to provide a good network and services, you can also change your insurer for poor services. There are multiple benefits of porting your health insurance plan; some have been listed below.

  1. Option to Customise Your Policy

One of the most significant benefits of porting your health insurance policy is the option to customise your policy. If your present insurer doesn’t offer the coverage you require, it is best to shift to an insurer that does. For example, suppose you have a standard health insurance plan and want to add maternity benefits to it. In that case, you can port to a new insurer if your current insurance company doesn’t offer maternity coverage.

Porting insurance can help you get better coverage at competitive premiums. An excellent way to do it is by finding insurers offering various add-ons that you may require in the future. You only have to focus on finding the right insurer offering the needed coverage and policy type.

  1. Continued Insurance Benefits at Better Premiums

Many policyholders avoid porting their insurance, fearing they would have to serve the waiting period again or lose the benefit of claiming a no-claim bonus if they haven’t filed claims for years. All these fears and concerns are myths since you can continue enjoying your policy benefits while porting to a new insurer.

IRDAI has made it clear that no policyholder will have to serve the waiting period again. For example, suppose your current policy required you to serve two years as a waiting period, and you successfully completed it. In that case, you are eligible to file claims with the new insurer without serving this period again.

But if you have opted for new coverage, like a maternity add-on while porting, you may have to serve the additional waiting period that comes with it. You should get it cross-verified before porting to any new insurer.

  1. Enjoy No Claim Bonus

If you have not filed claims for two or more years, you can carry your no-claim bonus benefit while porting to a new insurer. Insurance companies tend to reward policyholders who have claimless years in the form of discounted premiums. So you retain your chances of claiming discounted premiums in future years if you consider porting your insurance.

  1. Get Improved Customer Service

One of the most common reasons people choose to port their health insurance is the poor customer service of existing insurers. Many insurance companies fail to deliver the promised service standards after individual purchases of their policy. If your insurer doesn’t provide the promised assistance, you can look for better insurers online. It makes people look for better alternatives.

When you search for online health insurance, you can compare multiple similar policies offered by different insurers. If you are stuck and unable to shortlist some good insurers, join online groups, forums, and communities around insurance and invite unbiased opinions from other policyholders. The collected input will give you enough options to consider from.

  1. Lower Chances of Unreasonable Claim Rejections

Another reason why some policyholders choose to port their insurance plan is because of unreasonable claim rejections. If you have filed claim applications and they got rejected multiple times without any strong grounds, you might consider porting to a better insurer. Search for some good insurers with high claim settlement ratios, add them to your list, and compare their coverage and premium.

You can also reach out to policyholders from the shortlisted insurers’ list by joining relevant online groups, communities, and forums around the Indian insurance market. It will give you enough data to pick the ideal insurer. If you are using the claim settlement ratio as a significant factor, look for insurers with a high claim settlement ratio in the past five years. The higher the ratio, the better it is.

  1. Better Sum Insured

For the uninitiated, the sum insured is the maximum amount you can get during times of medical emergency. Policies with lower sum insured might not be desirable, especially considering the rising medical inflation. If your current insurer is unwilling to increase your sum insured for any reason, porting your insurance can be an excellent option.

You can secure your future medical needs by porting to a new insurer who agrees to increase your sum insured by a significant amount. When you place your porting request, you can ask the new insurer to increase your sum insured. The end decision to increase the sum insured will depend on the new insurer. So always check the communications and port to an insurer that agrees to your request.

Port Your Health Insurance for a Better Experience

The entire concept of health insurance porting was designed to safeguard the interests of policyholders. So if you have been receiving poor customer service or are paying higher premiums for substandard coverage, you may choose to port your policy to a better insurer. You can also port your policy if your past claims have been rejected for unjust reasons.

Porting your policy to a better insurer will make your entire experience smoother, and you won’t have to deal with poor customer service or unjustifiable claim rejections. However, you must conduct diligent research to find the right insurer for maximum benefits.

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