3 Reasons to buy individual health insurance plan despite having corporate health insurance

The COVID-19 pandemic has given a boost to an already accelerating healthcare inflation rate in India. Understandably, individuals are inclined to reduce non-essential health expenditure and most often than not, the first casualty in this scenario is health insurance. People tend to believe that having a corporate health insurance is sufficient and an individual plan is seen as an added burden on the wallet.

Here are top 3 reasons why one should not make this cardinal mistake:

1. Customization: Having your own health insurance allows you to customize it as per your requirements which may not be the case with your corporate policy. Adding or removing a family member, adding add-on covers depending on changing health status, co-payment facilities and many more options become available when you are in charge of your own policy. This ensures that what you pay for is best suited for your needs and concerns. A corporate policy on the other hand is an operating expense for your employer that they are legally bound to make and will always be tweaked towards serving the best interests of the organization balance sheet. Additionally, because it is paid for by the employer, in times of financial distress, the company might decide to reduce the cover to reduce its operating costs and an employee will have no say in that.
2. Accumulated bonus: Your corporate health plan will not let you carry forward accumulated benefits like an individual plan would when you switch jobs or the management decides to change insurance service provider. This is a reward in form of no-claim bonus that one can avail only on an individual’s health insurance.
3. Gap periods and retirement: If you don’t have an individual insurance plan, you are at financial risk when you take personal time off between two jobs because your past employer’s policy would have ended and new employer’s policy would not have started till the date of your joining. Alternatively, you might decide to lose out on this break and join the new workplace immediately, missing out on important rejuvenation time. More importantly, once you retire your corporate policy will not cover your health expenses and a new individual health plan after 60 years of age would be difficult to get, not to mention steeply priced. In fact, some insurance companies even limit entry age and don’t include certain ailments once the policy holder crosses a certain age, leaving you exposed financially in case of an emergency.

Therefore, even though it may seem like the right thing to do financially when the budgets are tight, in the longer term, it pays to have an individual health cover. This will ensure that you don’t have to dip into your hard-earned savings or liquidate your investments in case of emergency.

The ideal situation is to have both – an individual health plan and a corporate policy- that adequately covers you and your family members. To read more about individual health plans, compare policies and consult with our experts, head over to https://www.wiseadvise.in and make the right choice for your future!

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