As healthcare costs surge amid rising medical inflation, a policyholder should not make additional mistakes making the health insurance plan more expensive. The escalating healthcare inflation rates in India, currently stand at around 14 per cent.
Family floater plan is designed to cover all dependent family members and typically allows the policyholder, to add their spouse and children. A family floater could help save costs since rarely does everyone in a family need hospitalization at the same time and so the sum assured pool can be used for a single person.
Acquiring a family floater coverage health insurance policy separate from any company-provided insurance is indispensable and is relatively cheaper the earlier you take it further. Many companies are these days completely excluding the cover for parents and others are charging the cost of cover for parents from the employees. So how should you buy cover for parents and should they be included in the family floater plan?
Dr S. Dheeraj Krishnaa, Head of Wellness and Telemedicine, Star Health and Allied Insurance Co. Ltd said, “It is generally not advisable to include parents in a family floater policy, as insurance policies are priced based on age bands. Adding parents to the family floater policy generally increases the age band, resulting in the customer paying a much higher premium because the age of the individual is significantly higher. Therefore, it is generally advised that the policy be split, with separate ones purchased for the parents and the individual.”
Experts usually advise that the base policy of the family floater plans should range from Rs 10-15 lakhs and a super-top up of Rs 40 lakh to Rs 100 lakh is recommended.
Considering separate coverage for elderly parents is recommended to mitigate the impact of rising premiums on family floaters because the premiums are related to age and chances of co-morbidities. As the parents age, the chances of co-morbidities increase.
Unlike an individual plan where the sum insured can be claimed by only the policyholder, the sum insured of a family floater is a single pool from which all participants can claim. Any member hospitalized can benefit from the full sum insured by the Family Floater Policy. But, if any of the family members are having any health issues, it is better to opt for a separate individual policy for that person and a family floater policy for others. So here also parents tend to have health issues so it is better to have a separate policy.
Further, the premium of the family floater is calculated based on the health condition of the eldest member. Hence, the insurance premium will increase accordingly. When buying policies for senior citizens note that Co-payment of 10 per cent to 50 per cent is common in health insurance for senior citizens.
If your parents do not have any health insurance, you should include them in your corporate mediclaim policy, but most probably employer won’t pay the premium and you will have to.
You can consider purchasing a Critical Illness Policy for your parents if you have a family history of critical illness. Critical illness policies complement standard health insurance plans by providing lump-sum payments upon diagnosis, avoiding the need for frequent reimbursement claims. These policies cover a wide range of critical illnesses, over 30 critical illnesses including cancer, angioplasty, heart attack, etc.
