How will you shortlist the best family floater plans?
Honestly, just like you and your friend may not like the same cuisine of food, similarly a plan ideal for your friend may not be the best for you. It completely depends on your family and your individual requirements, financial needs and dependencies. Here are some points to help each one of you to choose the best plan for you:
Sum insured In order to select the right sum insured value for your family, consider your family size. Choose a sum insured such that even if more than one family member is hospitalized there is some amount of sum insured left for other members too
Risk factors Having a medical history of heart attack, medical history of gestational diabetes, chain smoking habit, etc. which are likely to increase health expenses too, are considered as risk factors while determining the premium. Presence any of these factors in even one of your family members covered under the floater will increase your premium (also known as premium loading*). Also, there are possibilities that the person with such risk factors will use up a larger part of sum insured in a policy year with little or no amount left for others in the floater. Thus, it is advisable to buy a floater for individuals with no such risk factor and an individual policy for individuals with such risks. Example: In a family of 4 members A, B, C and D family member A has a history of heart attack then, there would be premium loading or increase in the premium cost. Besides affecting waiting periods on certain diseases for all the members there would remain a high possibility that the member A uses up the maximum sum insured value. Thus, it is advisable to cover A in a separate individual plan. Age: Older individuals are usually considered to be at higher risk for illnesses when compared to younger individuals. So when you choose a family floater insurance plan involving much older individual (above age 60 years) compared to other members (up to age 35 years) then there are possibilities that a larger part of sum insured would be used up by this elder member. Thus, it is advisable to buy a separate plan for this member. However, all the other members in a similar, younger age group should be covered in the floater plan. Example: In a family of 4 members is covered under a floater where:
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A is 12 years old B is 10 years old
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C is 60 years old D is 35 years old
There is a high possibility that member C who is 60 years old will use up the entire sum insured in a policy year. Thus, buy a separate individual policy for C and a floater plan for the rest of the family. Policy Terms Some of the important policy terms that should be considered in a family floater plan are: Network hospital list All the health insurance companies are associated with certain hospitals where they offer cashless treatment. These are known as network hospitals. Thus, while you look out a health insurance plan, check if the network hospital list of the company includes name of your preferred hospital. Co-payment Co-payment or co-pay is the percentage of claimable hospital expenses you have to pay out of your pocket. Although, this option lowers the premium amount, it is advisable to avoid it if you do not want to make higher out-of-pocket expenses during each claim. Example of plan with co-pay: Consider if you have a plan with sum insured INR 1,00,000 and 10% co-pay. Your claimable hospital expenses are INR 1,00,000 then you have to pay INR 10,000 only after which your expenses would be covered up to sum insured. [Source: http://www.articles.mastercraftindia.com/Article-Site/how-will-you-shortlist-best-familyfloater-plans]