Having floater health policies can be beneficial in several aspects for young people but for older people, it can cause several problems. So, senior couples are often recommended to buy a separate individual health policy
In a floater health policy, the cover size for the insured members may reduce to the extent of the claim already taken by another member in the same policy. However, the insured gets distinct coverage in the individual health policies. So, people who are getting closer to retirement are advised to switch from a floater policy to an individual health policy. Here are some important points that explain the need to have a separate individual policy for senior citizen couples.
Individual health policies provide better coverage compared to floater policies. Senior people can choose individual policies as per their health conditions. Depending on requirements couples can get separate health policies of bigger or smaller sizes and get essential add-ons such as critical illness cover.
Premium on the floater policies is calculated based on the age of the senior member. If the senior person switches to an individual policy, then the premium of the floater policy for the remaining members may come down significantly. Depending on health condition and age, one of the couple members may need an insurance product with features that other members may not need. So, it can significantly reduce the premium if the insurance products are taken as per customized needs.
If couples have taken two separate health policies and both need hospitalization at the same time, they can easily get claims under individual health policies without disturbing each other’s coverage.
In a floater policy if any of the members have taken claims then sometimes it becomes difficult to port the policy, so entire members in that policy have to suffer. However, in individual health policies, people can port their policies to other companies without getting disturbed by health claims by other family members.
Health insurance companies give a No Claim Bonus (NCB) for every claim-free year during the next renewal. If senior citizens are part of a floater policy, then it increases the chance of a claim and NCB is not offered in such cases. However, in an individual policy, seniors can take the claims without disturbing the NCB in the health policies of other members of the family.
Senior citizen couples may need frequent medical attention and their health requirements may be different from each other, so they should choose separate individual health plans that are customised as per their health condition.
The author is an independent financial journalist