Individual vs Family Health Insurance Plans

03 June 2019

When you choose a health insurance policy, your medical expenses will be taken care of by your policy provider and in return, you are required to pay an annual fee, called ‘premium’ which can also be paid in monthly instalments. Depending on which policy you opt for and who provides it, health insurance protects your wallet by covering treatment expenses, hospitalization charges, ambulance costs, laboratory costs and other related expenses. Some policies even cover compensation for lost income.

It is difficult in the beginning to decide what kind of policy and coverage is required. There are numerous insurance providers providing health insurance. It is offered in two variants. It can be taken to insure in individual or a group of persons. Individual health insurance policy can be taken by an individual to insure themselves. Family health insurance plan can be used to provide health insurance cover to the whole family. It is an extended version of individual plan as an individual can cover their spouse, children and parents as well, along with themselves.

Policy can be bought very easily but real dilemma arises at the time of selection of the policy. There are two ways to buy health insurance in India. Individual health insurance and mediclaim family floater can be online via insurance aggregators and preferred provider website. They can also be bought via offline method through direct agents as well as from direct health insurance companies. But online method has emerged as the most convenient and easier mode of buying insurance as it is economical and with shorter turnaround time.

The usual dilemma is whether to buy individual health insurance policy or a family health plan. Both these policies serve the same purpose - to provide financial assistance at the time of medical emergencies but they are different in their nature. Individual health insurance provides cover to one individual while mediclaim policy for family covers whole family. Individual health insurance is relatively expensive as compared to family plan. Another benefit provided by family plan for family is the coverage provided by it. In the event of only one claim in a year, the family member gets a greater claim amount compared to what he might get on an individual cover. Thus, family health insurance is a complete insurance plan for the entire family providing cover to the whole family whereas individual health insurance caters to just one individual’s needs.

You can speak to one of our experts here if you are interested in availing of a health insurance policy.