Portability of health insurance refers to the transfer of your current health insurance from one company to another or one plan to another. The current IRDAI (Insurance and Regulatory Development Authority) guidelines protect the right of the insured individual(s) to port their insurance without losing on certain benefits. Especially for pre-existing conditions.
Want to know your rights, rules and how to port your health insurance from one to another? Keep reading!
Medical insurance portability is an option that allows the policyholder to change the current insurance company or choose a better insurance plan. Introduced in 2011, these guidelines let policyholders transfer their benefits gained for pre-existing conditions and other time-bound exclusions to the new policy.
Insurance portability also provides continuity benefits like no-claims bonuses and free medical check-ups accumulated in the previous policy. It offers the flexibility for insured people to not stay bound to their current insurer. This also ensures that insurance companies do not take their customers for granted.
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act give every policyholder of individual/family floater plans the right to get their credit gained for time-bound exclusions transferred when they change the insurer/plan.
Here is a list of the rights provided by the IRDA portability guidelines:
Better Terms
With intense competition, many insurers are trying their best to offer better value for your money. As such, you could take advantage of better deals instead of continuing with your current one.
Poor Service
If your current insurer has not been providing quality services for some time, you may want to move on. Similarly, if they were not fair in their claim settlement, you can consider making a switch.
Insufficient Coverage
Your existing insurance provider may not provide coverage for specific health issues which could concern you. In this case, you may want to consider switching your health insurance provider to get coverage for new ailments.
Hidden Clause
If you discovered a hidden clause well after purchasing a policy, you might consider a more transparent insurance provider. When it comes to making claims, such hidden conditions can wreak havoc during moments of crisis.
If you are paying an exorbitant premium for your current policy, consider switching to Navi. It offers a very simple and paperless claims process that takes only 20 minutes to get approved. Download the Navi app on Android or iOS to purchase a health plan from a company with an industry-leading claim settlement ratio.
Also Read: What Is a Top-up Health Insurance Policy? Why Is It Beneficial?
Follow the given steps to switch your existing health plan:
Also Read: Cashless Health Insurance Policy: All You Need To Know
Here’s a list of documents you need for porting your health insurance:
From Previous Insurer
From New Insurer
Here are the reasons your health insurance porting request can get rejected:
Distorted Medical Information
Misinformation about health conditions can lead to health insurance porting requests. Differences in the claimed health problems and health check-up reports are one of the primary reasons for the rejection of health insurance portation.
Underwriting Risk
The new insurer can reject your request for health insurance portation if the medical conditions do not align with the insurer’s underwriting risk, also known as risk acceptance.
Documents and Technicalities
The required documents need to be duly filled out and submitted to the new insurer’s office. Failing can lead to rejection. Also, not being available for medical check-ups can lead to health insurance portation rejection.
Age
If the policy holder’s age is above 70 years, there’s a high probability that the health insurance portation request to get rejected.
Pros | Cons |
To gain a competitive advantage, insurance companies provide existing benefits at lower premiums. | You can only port when the renewal date is near. |
The existing amount is clubbed with a no-claim bonus to calculate the new sum insured. | Higher premiums for additional benefits. |
All the benefits of the current plan remain effective. | Can only opt for similar products. |
You may customize your plan. | Moving from a group plan to an individual plan can lead to the loss of certain benefits. |
Health insurance portability lets you switch to a new insurer without losing some of the benefits accumulated with the old insurer. With this rule, you can easily opt-out of your current health plan without losing benefits.
Ans: Insurance companies have a certain waiting period for pre-existing diseases like diabetes, thyroid, asthma, depression etc. Policyholders need to wait till the end of this period to get their claims accepted.
Ans: IRDA has a web-based facility that obtains data about all issued health policies. Whenever a policyholder makes an application for porting their medical insurance, the new company can access data from this site.
Ans: IRDA has given insurers the right to reject any port-in requests. Any requests for portability are treated as new and get examined by the insurer’s underwriters. If the policyholder is deemed to be risky, they may reject the request.
Ans: Firstly, policyholders cannot change the health insurance plan when porting. They may also need to pay a higher premium for additional coverage and lose some benefits.
Ans: It is unlikely. You may have to serve half of the waiting period under the new plan. However, this can change depending on the terms and conditions of the new insurer.
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