Why Opt For a Floater Health Insurance Cover?

Posted by akanshasingh on January 23rd, 2017

If you are looking to get a medical insurance for all members of your family, there are two ways to go about this -

Buy a separate health policy for each member of your family

Buy a floater health insurance cover, which is nothing but a single health policy that covers all members of a family

How is family floater insurance cover different?

If you opt for this type of cover, the primary benefit is better risk coverage. To explain this point, let's take an example of a family of three members. As discussed earlier, you may either choose to buy three distinct insurance policies that individually cover all three members for a sum of Rs 1 lakh each or you buy one floater policy that covers the entire family for a cover of 3 lakhs. In case of a family floater policy if either of the family members is hospitalized, he or she would be individually eligible for a cover of Rs 3 lakhs. So, if the hospitalization costs are 2.5 lakhs, entire amount will be reimbursed by the insurance company. While in case of an individual policy, the insurance cover would be restricted to just 1 lakh and you would have to shell out the rest out of pocket. So, it is wise to opt for a floater cover rather than buying individual policies for each member.

But the risk with this policy is that in case all three members of a family are hospitalized in the same year or together, the risk coverage will still be restricted to a sum of Rs 3 lakhs.

Cost of a floater cover as compared to individual family floater insurance policy

In case of a family floater policy, the primary determinant of the cost or premium of the policy is the age of the senior most members and his medical history. The premium cost for a floater plan will be lower than purchasing individual policies for each family member, if the family is young and healthy, but substantially high otherwise. Hence, it would make sense to go for a floater cover if the senior most people in family is young and healthy enough.

Continuity of floater policy if the proposer dies

Those who buy a family floater insurance policy are often concerned that what if there is an unexpected demise of the proposer. However, there is nothing to be worried about, as coverage under the floater policy will still continue. The other members covered under the policy should make sure that they inform the insurance company and agree to become the new proposer.

What if the child insured under the floater policy crosses the upper age limit?

Family floater policy extends insurance coverage to a child only up to a certain age. If the child crosses the age, he becomes ineligible for coverage under the policy. In such a situation, the policy premiums are also reduced.

http://www.sooperarticles.com/finance-articles/insurance-articles/why-opt-floater-health-insurance-cover-1285364.html